PRINCETON,     N.    J. 


Division X)W. .  I.  .L .1  (b 

Section  .....\.\\\^C^ 

Shelf. Number 


itT 


JACOB  AND  JAPHETH: 

BIBLE-GROWTH  AND  RELIGION, 
FROM    ABRAHAM    TO     DANIEL. 

ILLUSTRA  TED  B  V  CONTEMPORAR  V  HISTOR  V. 
"WRITTEN  FOR  OUR  LEARNING." 

BY 

The  Author  of  "God  in  Creation,"  "God  Enthroned  in  Re- 
demption,"  "  Mrs.  Ward  Weighed  and  Found 
Wanting,"  etc. 


NEW  YORK : 
THOMAS     WHITTAKER, 

2  AND  3  Bible  House. 


Copyright,  1889, 
BY    THE    AUTHOR. 


PEEFACE 


This  book  traces  the  growth  of  the  Old  Testament 
as  a  preparation  for  the  New  Testament.  It  shows 
the  currents  of  preparation  in  various  inspired  utter- 
ances, and  that  Hebrew  theology  was  not  developed 
from  floating  myths  and  legends.  Genesis  has  some 
matters  which  are  paralleled  in  Babylonian  and  Egyp- 
tian traditions  ;  they  were  revised  and  authenticated 
by  the  Divine  Spirit  speaking  to  Abraham  and  others 
of  old  time.  The  true  was  before  the  mythical  ;  the 
legendary  arose  from  thoughts  and  endeavors  to  ex- 
plain facts.  Ancient  polytheism  was  derived  from 
ideas  about  the  angels  of  God  and  the  angels  of  Eden  ; 
animal  worship  arose  from  mistaken  notions  respect- 
ing the  serpent  that  tempted  mother  Eve,  and  demon- 
ology  from  belief  in  evil  spirits  expelled  from  heaven, 
with  Satan  their  chief.  Genesis  and  Job  spoke  of  him 
and  of  good  angels  many  ages  before  Daniel. 

Hebrew  legislation  became  interwoven  with  all  later 
Scriptures  from  Samuel  to  Jeremiah,  just  as  Homer 
was  interwoven  with  other  Greek  writings.  The  ob- 
servance of  law^s  ever  proves  their  existence.  Israel's 
ancient  judges  and  priests  prove  portions  of  the  Penta- 
teuch. A  chapter  or  a  book  may  be  forged  or  false, 
but  not  a  whole  literature  ;  so  a  wonder  here  or  there 
may  be  explained  by  natural  law,  but  not  the  series  of 
Avonders  from  the  calling  of  Abraham  to  the  deliver- 
ance from  Egypt  and  settlement  in  Canaan.  We  find 
little  new  theology  after  Abraham,  little  new  ethic 
after  Moses,  and  little  new  in  ritual  after  the  dedica- 


IV  PREFACE. 

tion  of  Solomon's  temple.  But  during  those  centuries 
prophets  gave  their  expositions  of  them  to  successive 
generations,  while  the  roots  and  principles  of  religion 
remained  the  same. 

The  Bible  is  one  long  lesson  of  preparation  for  the 
Redeemer.  Its  aim  and  endeavor  is  to  educate  a  peo- 
ple for  God.  Its  voicings  are  now  for  one  age,  now 
for  another,  differing  in  tone  and  emphasis,  sometimes 
thundering  against  apostasy  and  apostate  kings,  but 
ever  calling  in  the  same  direction  and  urging  toward 
the  same  goal.  We  need  not  weigh  and  measure  the 
inspiration  of  one  seer  as  compared  with  another,  for 
whenever  the  Spirit  speaks  by  a  prophet  he  utters  the 
word  of  God,  even  when  the  utterance  is  of  local  or 
personal  application.  Jacob's  Bible  was  a  growth  of 
fifteen  hundred  years,  each  part  being  adapted  to  the 
age  for  which  it  was  given,  but  the  purpose  was  the 
same  in  all  ages — to  educate,  to  reform,  to  restore 
backsliding  Israel. 

History  supplies  the  authentication  of  what  was  be- 
lieved in  the  time  of  Moses  and  Joshua  with  as  much 
certainty  as  in  the  days  of  Isaiah.  For  the  prophets 
of  Isaiah's  day  based  their  deliverances  upon  a  law 
then  known,  a  ritual  then  existing,  a  history  then 
written,  or  waiting  for  a  scribe.  Thus  Sinai  prepared 
for  the  tragedy  at  Carmel,  Shiloh  for  the  worship  of 
Zion.  Circumcision  and  passover,  fast  and  festival 
prepared  for  Him  who  ransomed  the  lost,  that  they 
might  obtain  eternal  life.  The  miraculous  was  illus- 
trated to  patriarchs  and  judges  as  well  as  by  Samuel 
and  Elijah.  It  was  blended  and  woven  with  all  He- 
brew literature,  its  songs  and  its  sorrows  in  Palestine, 


PREFACE.  V 

in  Exile,  and  return  from  it.  Jacob  wrote  with  a  pen 
which  was  ever  guided  by  a  Divine  hand,  and  he 
wrote  for  Japhetli  as  well  as  for  Israel.  His  writings 
have  endured  the  beatings  of  many  storms — storms  of 
kings  and  critics  ;  of  Antiochus  and  Julian,  Celsus, 
Porphyry,  and  modern  sceptics.  God  and  Ilis  Word 
can  never  be  destroyed. 

We  all  have  an  equal  interest  in  these  matters.  We 
all  are  in  the  same  life-boat,  needing  a  Divine  Pilot  to 
steer  it.  If  she  founder  we  shall  all  alike  be  lost  ;  but 
if  we  safely  cross  the  tempestuous  ocean,  we  shall  all 
land  on  the  peaceful  shores  of  the  blessed.  As  during 
forty  years  I  have  studied  these  matters,  seeking  to  be 
helpful  to  others  in  fresh  lines  of  old  thought,  it  is 
not  presumption  to  treat  of  the  growth  of  the  Book 
given  as  the  chart  by  which  to  steer  our  bark  while 
making  the  eternal  voyage.  If  new  objections  have 
arisen,  so  have  new  answers  to  them  ;  new  facts  have 
come  to  light  which  illustrate  Bible  foundations  and 
authority.  Those  who  have  trod  the  border-land  know 
that  the  reasons  which  established  one  who  doubted 
the  value  of  certain  things  may  be  helpful  to  others. 
There  are  eternal  truths  which  concern  us  all,  and  it 
behooves  us,  by  God's  help,  to  live  according  to  their 
teaching.  Guesses  must  not  usurp  the  place  of  Pev- 
elation.  In  such  spirit  I  have  tried  to  say  clearly 
what  I  have  found  touching  Bible- Growth  and  Pelig- 
ion,  but  not  to  over-color  anything.  May  the  Divine 
Spirit  guide  us  into  all  the  Truth. 

The  Author. 


00]^TE]^TS. 


CHAPTER  r. 

Jacob  and  Japheth :  their  God. 

PAGE 

Summary  :  Present  Interest  in  Ancient  Beliefs  —Perver- 
sions—Ancient Testimonies  Demonstrative — How  Con- 
fronted—False Portraiture — Agreement  of  Genesis  and 
Cuneiform  Inscriptions  —A  Babylonian  Spirit  Breathes 
in  them,  yet  True  and  Natural — Influence  of  Hebrews, 
Why  and  Whence — Divine  Characteristics — Ever  Wit- 
nessing to  Man— Conscience  the  Outcome  of  Divine  In- 
struction— God  the  Active  Agent —Illustrations — 
Trend  of  Hebrew  Theology  and  Morality  —Course  of 
Semitic  Migrations — Ren  an  Corrected— Hebrew  Tribes 
— Hostility— Language — Religion  Monotheistic — Per- 
sonification OF  Dn^iNE  Attributes— The  Divine  Name  In- 
corporated INTO  Personal  Names— About  Angels,  their 
Ministry,  and  Worship  of — Semites  now  Monotheists  and 
NOW  Polytheists— Abraham,  Sa.rgon,  Elijah,  Ahab,  Ma- 
homet—Ideas OF  God  Variously  Expressed —Seen  in  the 
Operations  of  Nature  and  Emphasized  in  Song,  Proverb, 
and  Notable  Events 13 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  Religion  of  Abraham,  from  the  Bible  and  the  Inscriptions. 

How  Described  —Dr.  South — Revised  for  Abraham— Corrupt- 
ed by  Others  -  Names  for  God  and  PRO^^:DENCE  —Devel- 
opment OF  Nature-Worship —Journey  of  Abraham  from 
Ur  to  Haran— Passes  the  Birs-Nimrud  and  Temples  of 
Babylonia —Description  of  and  Worship — Legends  of 
Eden— The  Serpent  and  Sacred  Tree — Authorities  — 
Capture  of  Nana  and  Restoration — Accadian  Legends 
and  Ideas  Revised  by  Abraham — Illustrations  of  the 
Fall — A  Delfv'erer  Expected  by  Semites,  Japhethites, 
etc. — Endeavors  after  Righteousness— Ideas  of  Immor- 


viii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 
TALITY  — PrEHISTOKIC    TeEPANNING    TO    SeCUKE    HaPPINESS 

AFTER  Death — Belief  in  Immortality  in  Egypt  and  Baby- 
lonia— Sabbath-Observance— Characteristics  of  Abra- 
ham—How Nourished — Co\t:nant-Grace,  Prayer,  Sacri- 
fice, Divine  Influence — Pillar  Tokens  of  Covenant- 
Festal  Kites  and  Fasts  among  Semites— Visions  and 
Revelations — Incorporations  of  DmNE  with  Human 
Names— Father  Orham  and  Abraham,  Title  to  Esteem — 
Angelic  Ministry — Michaf.l  and  Merodach— Evil  Spir- 
its AND  Prayer  foe  Deliverance  from — The  New  Truth 
OF  Divine  Covenant  with  Abraham 37 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  Patriarch  in  Palestine  :  Personal  Incidents. 

Beginning  of  Revelation  to  Abraham — His  "Worship  of  God 
— His  Conservatism — Divine  Behests  and  Bible— A  New 
Departure  —  Covenant  —  Altar -Building  —  Luz -Bethel, 
Visions  of  Jacob  at  and  God's  Promise  to  Him — Long 
Veneration  of  the  Place -Its  Desecration— Shechem, 
ITS  Altar  and  Memorial  Stone— Joshua's  Farewell — 
Famous  Oak — Justin  Martyr  Born  at  Shechem— First 
Bible  Parable  Spoken  there — Men  of.  Punished  by 
Simeon  and  Levi — Ethical  Standard  of  Israel  and  Phil- 
ISTINES,  OF  Greeks  and  Romans — Sajvison's  Riddle — 
Treatment  of  Slaves — Jacob's  Ethic  in  Genesis  Com- 
pared with  Classics— Conscience  then  as  Sure  a  Guide 
AS  UNDER  Roman  Emperors — Jacob's  Culture  and 
Ideas  of  God — Socrates — Other  Illustrations— Abra- 
ham AN  Example  of  Domestic  Affection — Treatment  of 
HIS  Sons — His  Chabacter  Tested  by  Command  to  Sacri- 
fice Isaac — Heaven's  Prohibition 62 


CHAPTER   IV. 

Israel  in  Egypt ^  at  Sinai,'  the  Law. 

Time  of  Residence  in  Egypt — Hyksos  or  Ruling  Dynasty 
Friendly  to  Israel — Modern  Discoveries  Confirm  Bible 
Accounts— Dynastic  Changes  Changed  Israel's  Condi- 
tion—Apepi  AND  Ra-Sekenen— Hebrews  Enslaved' — Re- 
nan's  Misrepresentations — Thebans  Dominant  and  Op- 
pressive—Authorities Touching  Length  of  Sojourn — 
Time  for  Growth  in  Numbers — Culture — Deliverance 
BY  Drv^NE  Power— Defeat  of  Egyptian  Gotjs — Jacob's 
Festivals  and  Written  Revelation— Not  Borrowed — 
The  Ten  Laws — Other  Preparations — Israel  Safe  among 


CONTENTS.  IX 

PAGE 

THE  Mountains  of  Sinai — Wonders  Paralleled  in  Other 
Hebrew  History — Kenan's  Criticism  of  Moses— Of  Pre- 
tended Oracles,  Giving  of  the  Law,  and  Miraculous 
Stories  -Antiquity  of  Ps/Sxm  68  and  of  Other  Writings — 
The  Regal  Period  Unfavorable  to  the  Forging  op  a 
New  Legislation  and  Kitual — Wars  and  Commotions — 
Relation  of  Prayer-Book  to  Missals  Similab  to  that  of 
Temple  and  Tabernacle  Ritual  wt:th  Authenticated 
Scriptures  in  Israel 82 


CHAPTER  V. 

Al  Home  in  Palestine:  Miraculous  Events. 

Commencement  and  Unfolding  of  Jacob's  History — His 
Death  in  Egypt,  Burial  in  Canaan,  and  Favorable  Im- 
pression UPON  the  People — Changed  to  Hostility  in 
Lapse  of  Centuries — Renan  Corrected — Hebrew  Prow- 
ess— Moral  Force  United  with  Divine  Force  for  Israel 
— How  Evidenced — Jordan's  Waters  Cut  off  by  Jahveh 
— Memorial  Thereof  set  up  by  Joshua — The  Covenant  Re- 
newed— An  ancient  Souvenir — Objections  Considered 
— Dr.  Geikie,  Captain  Condee — Druid-like  Circles  in 
Moab — Cromlech  at  Gilgal — Similar  Inscriptions  in 
Egypt  and  Hamath — Origin  of  Canaanites — Idolatrous 
AND  Debased — Cultured,  but  without  Patriotism — Their 
Gods  Conquered — Bible  Accounts  Credible,  Record- 
ed BY  Prophetic  Writers  and  Corroborated  by  Contem- 
porary History — Renan  Corrected — Great  Slaughter 
OF  Ephraimites — Israel's  Victories  by  Divine  Power — 
God  Attends  at  the  Birth  of  Nations — Joshua  Renews 
the  Covenant — His  Retirement — The  Tabernacle  a  Cen- 
tre of  Influence — Intellectual  Cleverness  of  Jews — 
Episode  of  Micah — Chastisement  of  Benjamin — Seizure 
OF  Wives  at  Shiloh — Dan's  Idolatry — Summary  of 
Jacob's  Bible  Evidence  at  this  Era 104 


CHAPTER  VI. 

How  Japheth  Scrutinizes  Jacob's  Books. 

The  Anabasis  and  Numbers  Compared — Events  and  Record 
Contemporaneous — Dr.    Kalisch's    View    of    Balaam — 

SCHRADER  AND   ASSYRIAN  ACCOUNTS ThE  MoABITE  StONE 

Balak  and  Mesha — The  History  and  Prophecy  of  Bible 
Authenticated — Evidences  of  Writing  among  Ancient 
Hebrews — Sayce  vs.  Renan — Jacob  Wrote  his  Annals — 
Old  Testament  Words  in  the  Inscriptions  Explained — 


aONlEHITS. 

PAGE 

Kenan's  Account  of  Sun  Standing  Still,  and  Dr.  Egar's — 
Heaven  Gtods  of  Canaan  Gloeify  Jehovah — Lot  in  Syria — 
Bible  Phrases  Original,  or  not  Borrowed  from  Assyrian 
Writers  ;  Bible  Corrects  them — Error  of  Schrader  — 
How  Foreign  Words  were  Adopted  by  Hebrews — Mr. 
Lethaby's  Letter  from  Moab — Kenan's  Objection  to 
Joshua  Corrected — Inscriptions  Mistake  Jehu  for  Ahab 
— Growth  and  Authentication  of  Scripture — Greek 
Translation  of — Preservation  and  Multiplication  of 
Copies— Second-Century  Collations  and  Safeguards — 
Kenan's  Testimony — Objectors  Answered — Acknowl- 
edged Prophets  Expound  Ancient  Laws — Anticipatory 
Legislation  Evidenced  by  History — Keasons  for  not 
NOW  Accepting  New  Chronology — The  Lists  of  Naram- 
SiN  Contemporary  Princes  whom  Sargon  I.  Subdued 131 


CHAPTEK  VII. 

The  Era  of  Samuel  and  David:  Jacob's  Bible  then. 

Prophetic  and  Koyal  Functions — Catastrophe  at  Shiloh — 
Sacrifices  of  Atonement  Cease  for  Years — Importance 
OF  THE  Ark — Certain  Laws  in  Force  at  this  Period — 
The  Supernatural  Manifested  from  Abraham  to  David 
— Samuel  not  Minimized  by  Comparison  with  Elijah — 
Special  and  Official  Work — Kenan  Corrected— Samuel 
AT  Shiloh  and  Mizpeh — His  Character  Suggests  a  Na- 
tional Chief  to  the  People — Two  Centuries  of  Depres- 
sion, Disunion,  Idolatry— Clericalism  and  Prophetism — 
Dynastic  Change  of  Disobedient  Saul  for  Jahvist 
David — His  Character — Consecration  of  the  Temple  — 
Its  Theology  for  Mankind  —The  Stranger  may  Worship 
in  Jerusalem — Solomon's  Prayer— Liturgic  Enrichment 
— Canonization  of  a  David-like  Character  in  Christen- 
dom— Pentateuchal  Provisions  and  Kestrictions  for 
Kings — Growth  and  Contents  of  Jacob's  Bible  ;  About 
Half  the  Old  Testament  then  Written — Prophetic  Au- 
thentication AND  Writing  of  New  Copies— The  Truth 
Widely  Known — Summary  of  Laws  and  History  in  Israel  160 


CHAPTEK  VIII. 

The  Prophets  and  their  Predictions. 

Ewald's  Definition  of  Inspiration — Human  Speech  Unthink- 
able Without  God — Dr.  Kalisch  on  Balaam  and  Kuth — 
His  Error— Wellhausen's  Error  Touching  Ahab    and 


CONTENTS.  xi 

Elijah — Distinction  between  Prophets  of  Jehovah  and 
OF  Baal— The  One  Inspired,  the  Other  Augurs  and 
Soothsayers— Wellhausen  Corrected— How  TROPnETic 
IMks.sages  WERE  Conveyed— Prophets  and  Priests  Char- 
acterized— International  Trade  and  Literary  Inter- 
course—A Constellation  OF  Prophets  ;  Micaiah  vs.  Ahab  ; 
H.  Spencer  vs.  Micaiah— All  Voicings  of  Seers  not 
Predictive — Revelations  to  Jacob  —The  Twofold  Name 
OF  Deity  Known  by  him  and  by  Abraham— Wellhausen 
Corrected— "  The  Swiss  Guard  of  True  Heligion  " — 
Non-writing  Prophets  and  a  Non  writing  Age  as  Stated 
BY  Wellhausen  not  Correct— Elijah  as  Masterful  in 
Words  as  in  Deeds— The  Law  not  a  Late  Development 
— Ezekiel's  Testimony  —Ethics  and  Worship  Out  of  Is- 
rael—Prophets OF  SiNiooTH  Things  Desired — Interna- 
tional AND  Theocratic  Influence  in  the  Sixth  Century 
-Fulfilment  of  Prophecy  in  a  Babylonian  House  of 
Exchange — A  Second  Isaiah  and  Relation  of  an  Early 
Pentateuch  to  him — False  Suppositions — Laws  Exist 
Before  their  Incorporation  into  a  Literature — Kuenen 
Corrected  Touching  Hosea  and  Ezra— Jewish  Prosely- 
tism  of  Greeks  a  Preparation  for  the  Messiah 183 


CHAPTER   IX. 

Jacob's  Prophets  Serve  Japheih's  Kings:  A  Light  to  Lighten  the  Gen- 
tiles. 

Hebrew  Language  and  Prophets  Defined  by  Renan — A  Force 
Reforming  the  World — Jonah,  his  Place,  Mission  to 
Nineveh,  and  Sermon  from  its  Walls — How  Received — 
Reigning  Monarch  Characterized — Repentance  of— 
Later  Destruction  of  Nineveh — Its  Ruins— Tomb  op 
Jonah  —  ' '  Jahveh  not  Unser  OotV '  —  Isaiah  and  His 
Prophecies  for  Gentiles — Kuenen  on  his  Era — Predic- 
tions Characterized  by  Dr.  Briggs— Lofty  Messianic 
Reaches— Mic AH,  and  how  he  Saved  Jeremiah's  Life  — 
A  Bold  Truth-teller— Jeremiah  and  his  Predictions  vs. 
Jerusalem  and  the  Nations — His  Career— Ezekiel  a 
Captive  on  the  Chebar — Location — The  Prophet  Char- 
acterized— His  Many  Things  for  Jacob  and  the  Gen- 
tiles—Authenticates Daniel — A  Captive  Honored  and 
Educated  at  Babylon— Interprets  Dreams  of  the  King 
AND  Saves  the  College  of  Chaldeans — Cannot  be  Rele- 
gated TO  THE  Second  Century  b.c.  as  Describing  Anti- 
ocHus  Epiphanes— Predictions  of  Messianic  Kingdom, 
A  Light  to  Lighten  the  Gentiles — Objections  vs. 
Daniel — Porphyry  and  Other  Critics  Answered— Testi- 


xii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 
MONY    OF  JOSEPHUS,    ETC. — FoRMER    OBJECTIONS   TO    IsAIAH 

AND  Sargon  Paealleled  IN  Daniel— A   Prophet  Vindi- 
cated BY  A  King 211 

CHAPTER  X. 

General  Review  of  Matters  Considered  in  this  Book. 

Story  op  How  the  Bible  was  Given — Its  Legislation  and 
Provisions  for  Nationai^  Development — Religious  Me- 
morials AND  Prophetic  Reminders  of  them — Laws  of  the 
Twelfth  Century  not  to  be  Relegated  to  444  b.c. — 
Jacob's  Bible  as  Authentic  as  the  Classics — Early  Origin 
OF  his  Religion — Illustrated  by  Prophets — Authority 
IN  THE  Christian  Church  Compared  with  that  of  Israel 
— Ancient  Observance  of  Laws  and  Rites — Disruption 
OF  the  Kingdom  Led  to  Disruption  of  the  Religion  op 
Israel  and  to  Apostasy  from  Jahveh— Prophets  Ex- 
horted Backsliders  to  Return — Preservation  op  Scrip- 
ture —  Stuart'  s  Defence  of  Daniel  —  His  Prophecy 
Shown  to  Alexander  the  Great — Testimony  of  Josephus 
— Justin  Quotes  Moses,  Isaiah,  Daniel  ;  he  Lived  a 
Century  and  a  Half  before  Porphyry,  and  a  Higher  Au- 
thority —Origen — Antiochus  Epiphanes  Destroyed  Scrip- 
ture Mss. — He  is  not  Compared  but  Contrasted  with 
Nebuchadnezzar  —  Fulfilment  of  Prophecy — Pyrrho- 
nism AND  THE  French  Assembly — Bible  Books  not  to  be 
Decided  by  Votes — Fantastic  Dogmatism — Homer  and 
Herodotus  less  Credible  than  the  Old  Testament — 
Writing  Prophets  Recorded  Predictions  of  those  who 
DID  NOT  Write — Scripture  Authentication — Remarkable 
Fulfilment  of  Isaiah  in  Egypt  ;  of  Leviticus  and  Deu- 
teronomy IN  the  Roman  Siege  of  Jerusalem — Prayer  op 
EsDRAs — Author's  Object  in  Writing  this  Book 237 


JACOB   AND    JAPHETH  :    THEIR  GOD. 

Our  interest  to-daj  in  tlie  beliefs  of  mankind  forty 
centuries  ago  arises  from  the  things  beheved  and  from 
the  reasons  for  believing  them.  They  were  prepara- 
tions for  what  followed.  Those  truths  and  processes 
of  religious  thought  are  important  in  themselves  and 
grand  in  their  unfoldings.  They  arrest  the  attention 
of  scientists,  historians,  linguists,  and  critics.  But 
many  seek  to  give  their  own  setting  and  coloring  to 
them.  Some,  indeed,  reduce  God  to  the  Unknow- 
able, who  has  no  revelation  for  mankind  ;  to  a  Force 
in  nature  that  has  no  concern  for  men,  and  they  are 
most  emphatic  in  their  voicings  about  that  of  which 
they  are  ignorant.  Everywhere  this  echo  is  heard,  in 
books  and  newspapers,  in  clubs  and  halls  of  assembly. 
We  cannot  ignore  it,  and  the  issues  involved  demand 
that  we  consider  it. 

In  the  chapters  on  '*  God  Enthroned  in  Redemp- 
tion," I  treated  of  the  early  beliefs  about  God,  the 
first  Sabbath  and  worship,  prayer  and  sacrifice,  the 
world's  legends  and  expectations  of  a  Redeemer,  long- 
ings after  immortality,  the  solidaric  redemption  of 
man  by  One  ]3romised  in  Eden,  and  the  founding  of  a 
kingdom  for  the  Redeemed  ;  showing  by  facts  and 
illustrations  amounting  to  a  demonstration  that  revela- 


14  JACOB  AND  JAPIIETH  : 

tioii,  conscience,  history,  legend— all  testify  of  the 
same  grand  truths. 

Now  we  are  confronted  witli  attempts  to  strike  off 
the  roots  of  a  God-given  Word  for  man,  and  of  Divine 
care  of  him.  "  He  is  only  one  of  myriads  of  exist- 
ences. Let  him  run  his  course  to  its  ultimate  issue." 
Alas  !  such  writers  know  nothing  about  that  final  out- 
come ;  about  the  steps  which  lead  to  it,  nor  what  are 
its  tremendous  possibilities. 

They  reduce  sacred  history  to  legend  and  myth,  and 
the  Hebrew  religion  to  a  natural  development  of  Semitic 
civilization,  according  to  the  gospel  of  evolution.  Ger- 
man and  French  Japheths  encounter  Jacob  and  lay  him 
in  the  dust  of  humanity ;  then  slowly  make  him  a  ' '  force 
which  sweeps  the  world  of  mankind  along  with  it." 
By  such  a  phantasmagorical  representation  of  history  the 
reader  receives  impressions  which  long  remain.  Thus 
vast  injury  is  done  to  the  cause  of  religion  and  to  the 
souls  of  men.  Jacob  is  portrayed  as  an  "  ignorant 
slave,  yet  allowed  to  make  pilgrimages  to  his  local  god 
at  Sinai,  and  becoming  dissatisfied  in  Egypt,  was  ex- 
pelled by  the  Pharaoh  who  did  not  want  him,  and  to 
whom  lie  was  useless"  !  His  God  is  reduced  to  the 
rank  of  a  "tribal  deity,"  whose  "oracles  were  of 
doubtful  authority,  because  of  doubtful  authenticity, 
and  whose  Bible  is  said  not  to  have  been  written  be- 
fore the  ninth  century  b.o."  So  Kenan  and  Well- 
hausen.  We  shall  endeavor  to  present  some  leading 
facts  in  the  history  of  Jacob,  of  his  God  and  his 
Bible  ;  showing  that  He  w^as  also  the  God  of  Japheth, 
and  often  sent  a  prophetic  word  to  him. 

Genesis  and  the  cuneiform  inscriptions  show  that  the 


TUEIR   THEOLOGY.  15 

sons  of  Noah  had  much  in  common  of  reh'gions  in- 
struction, similar  ideas  of  God  and  how  to  worship 
Him.  But  corruption  arose  in  life,  ritual,  and  theol- 
ogy ;  distinctions  between  sons  of  God  and  daughters 
of  men,  between  Sethites  and  Anakites,  which  we 
broadly  designate  by  Jacob  and  Japheth,  the  Church 
and  the  world  ;  the  one  accepting  Divine  revelation 
and  covenant,  the  other  following  their  own  devices 
and  suffering  the  penalty. 

They  had  descended  from  the  same  ancestry,  had 
received  similar  training  in  the  duties  of  life,  in  the 
knowledge  of  God  and  of  duty  toward  Him.  From 
Adam  to  Abraham  there  were  no  Heaven -appointed 
ecclesiastical  differences.  But  with  Abraham  arose 
that  distinction  which  made  Israel  to  differ  from  the 
rest  of  mankind  ;  yet  not  till  the  new  dispensation  was 
completed  under  Moses  was  that  difference  very 
marked.  First,  the  Covenant  of  circumcision  differ- 
entiated the  worshippers  of  Jahveh  from  the  worship- 
pers of  II u,  Ra,  and  Bel.  The  Genesis  of  Jacob  and 
the  inscriptions  of  Japheth  give  similar  accounts  of 
creation,  which  are  the  earliest  in  human  language  of 
the  origin  of  the  world  and  of  man  upon  it  ;  and  they 
have  been  blended  and  interwoven  into  all  later  his- 
tories of  primitive  man.  '^  The  old  Babylonian  spirit 
breathes  in  them  still,"  which  is  a  pretty  sure  test  of 
their  truthfulness,  or  translators  and  copyists  would 
long  ago  have  changed  them.  A  false  statement  of 
such  matters  is  not  true  to  nature,  and,  of  course,  not 
true  in  fact  and  principle.  Hence  ^*  the  old  Baby- 
lonian spirit  still  breathes  in  the"  records  and  legends 
of  creation.     Indeed,  ''  the  great  truth  of  the  unity 


16  JACOB  AND  JAPIIETU : 

of  the  world  and  of  the  solidaric  unity  of  all  its  parts 
is  clearly  perceived  in  them.  The  nomad  pastor 
would  not  have  invented  them,  but  he  perpetuated 
them,"  and  the  Hebrew  genius  has  given  them  greater 
simplicity  and  correctness  than  the  Assyrian  scribe. 
"  What  was  grotesque  in  Berosus  appears  true  and 
natural  in  the  Bible.  Israel  effected  this  miracle^ 
(Kenan's  "History  of  the  People  of  Israel,"  vol.  i., 
p.  68.)  But  that  Israel  could  have  done  such  a  thing, 
without  the  inspiration  and  guidance  of  Heaven,  is  a 
still  greater  miracle.  She  was  one  of  the  later  nations, 
with  a  later  history  of  all  that  pertained  to  her  ;  how, 
then,  if  she  rose  from  a  savage  state,  could  she  have 
given  a  "  true  and  natural  "  account  of  creation  and 
the  first  men  in  her  Bible  ?  No  matter  whence  came 
the  earliest  accounts,  the  revised  and  corrected  narra- 
tive is  a  '^miracle  which  Israel  effected."  How? 
We  say  by  the  Divine  Spirit  speaking  to  Abraham,  to 
Moses,  and  by  the  prophets.  In  other  words,  by 
Divine  guidance^  or  by  revelation.  Since  it  could  not 
have  been  invented  it  must  have  been  revealed.  Bar- 
barians could  not  have  fabricated  Genesis  and  Exodus. 
The  origin  of  the  world  was  w^ritten  in  Chaldaean 
bricks,  was  early  taught,  with  many  other  things,  to 
Abraham,  who  was  enabled  to  transmit  a  "true  and 
natural"  account  in  Jacob's  Bible.  The  prophets 
preserved  and  authenticated  the  history,  the  law,  and 
the  songs  of  Israel,  while  the  priests  preserved  copies 
of  the  covenant  and  the  sacred  books  in  and  near  the 
Ark  of  God.  But  they  were  a  growth,  not  even  all 
tiie  Pentateuch,  as  we  have  it,  being  as  early  as  Moses, 
though  the  later  matters  generally  indicate  when  they 
were,  or  that  they  were,  added. 


THEIR  THEOLOGY.  17 

Semites,  indeed,  have  made  their  presence  felt  in 
our  world,  but  whence  came  those  ideas  which  differ- 
entiated them  from  other  dwellers  in  Babylonia  ?  for 
when  they  left  that  country,  they  possessed  only  what 
w\as  ^  joint  inheritance.  It  was  not  native  culture  and 
the  inventive  faculty  ;  for  other  nations  were  as  cul- 
tured and  as  ingenious  as  they,  and  their  regal  history 
discloses  an  equal  tendency  to  polytheistic  forms  of 
w^orsliip.  But  the  unfolding  of  their  religious  char- 
acter reveals  an  aptness  for  Divine  instruction  and  the 
hearing  of  Divine  voices,  together  with  the  faculty  of 
imparting  what  was  communicated  to  them.  They 
had  in  large  degree  the  courage  of  their  convictions. 
From  Abraham  to  Moses  they  were  as  surely  the  sub- 
jects of  derision  as  they  have  ever  been,  and  they  were 
often  persecuted.  But  did  ever  an  Israelite  abandon 
the  religion  of  the  God  of  Abraham  merely  because 
he  was  derided  or  persecuted  ?  Did  not  He  who  cre- 
ated man  know  this  tendency  to  be  rooted  in  that  race, 
of  conservation  and  perpetuation  of  what  they  pos- 
sessed in  religion  as  well  as  the  material  things  of  life  ? 
Differ  as  we  may  about  the  miraculous  in  their  history — 
about  the  exploits  of  Joshua,  the  frolicking  revenges  of 
Samson,  the  valor  of  the  youthful  David,  the  three 
young  men  in  the  furnace  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  and 
Daniel  in  the  lion's  den — there  yet  was  disclosed  in 
them  all  a  loyalty  to  God  which  impressed  itself  upon 
the  nation,  and  which  was  as  marked  when  Jerusalem 
w^as  surrounded  witli  enemies  as  when  David  con- 
quered the  stronghold  of  Zion  from  the  Jebusites 
(2  Sam.  5  :  6-8),  or  when  Hebrew  captives  wept  by 
the  waters  of  Babylon.     From  Abraham  to  John  Bap- 


18  JACOB  AND  JAPIIETH: 

tist  religious  heroism  is  strikingly  illustrated  in  their 
kinsmen. 

]S"o  word-painting  is  needed  to  identify  the  God  of 
Japheth  with  Him  of  Jacob.  Illustrations  will  be 
given  that  Jahveh  of  the  Hebrews  was  the  Supreme 
God  of  the  Gentiles  ;  that  He  triumphed  over  the 
deities  of  Egypt,  over  Chemosh  of  Moab,  over  the  gods 
of  Canaan,  over  Dagon  of  Philistia  ;  and  that  He  was 
the  acknowledged  One,  supreme  in  heaven  and  earth, 
now  by  the  early  kings  of  Babylonia  and  Egypt,  now 
by  Nebuchadnezzar  and  Darius.  And  to  Him  ''the 
world  is  to  be  converted,"  to  Him  the  Creator,  the 
Father,  the  Kedeemer  of  mankind.  His  Fatherhood 
is  distinctly  seen  in  His  choice  of  Abraham  for  the 
founding  of  a  new  nation  ;  in  His  prophetic  messages 
to  other  nations,  warning  them  of  impending  judg- 
ments ;  and  in  the  Son  of  His  love  dying  upon  the 
cross  for  the  redemption  of  the  world.  Ammon  and 
Ishmael,  Egyptian  and  Persian,  Roman  and  Greek 
may  claim  Him  as  Saviour  if  they  will  ;  for  in  Him 
were  fulfilled  all  Japheth' s  expectations  of  an  Avatar 
and  Mediator  by  whom  the  world's  ills  should  be 
removed. 

Even  those  who  relegate  Jehovah  to  the  position  of 
a  local  deity  acknowledge  those  Scriptures  which 
say  :  God  came  from  Teman,  rose  up  from  Seir,  and 
sinned  forth  from  Mount  Paran  (Deut.  33  :  2  ;  Hab. 
3:3.)  His  efficient  presence  was  manifested  at  the 
Ark  of  the  Covenant.  He  is  the  Eternal  and  Per- 
sonal Energy  which  acts  in  all  phenomena,  orders 
and  causes  them.  He  is  supreme  in  justice,  in  truth, 
in  love,  in  power,  as  supreme  in  spiritual  as  in  ma- 


THEIR   TIIEOLOQT.  19 

terial  things  ;  wherefore  His  creatures  need  not  com- 
plain nor  despair,  but  rather  believe  in  Ilini.  Deep 
soul  experiences  of  faith  never  lead  to  apostasy. 
Neither  Judas  nor  Elsmere  cherished  that  faith  in  the 
Christ  of  God  which  would  enable  them  to  die  for 
Ilini.  The  regenerated  of  God  by  the  Holy  Ghost 
will  ever  love  and  serve  their  Father. 

In  the  loss  of  Eden  Adam  lost  not  all  his  nobility 
of  character,  and  he  looked  to  the  saving  seed  prom- 
ised him.  There  were  yet  large  possibilities  for  his 
recovery.  Worshipping  Sethites,  Enoch,  and  Noah 
illustrate  how  they  were  preachers  of  righteousness. 
Abraham  and  Jacob  succeeded  them  ;  then  followed 
Moses  and  the  prophets  of  Israel  ;  Zoroaster,  Indian 
sages,  and  Greek  teachers  of  Japheth.  God.  left  not 
Himself  without  witnesses  of  truth,  virtue,  and  loy- 
alty. The  dark  places  of  mankind  were  not  wholly 
dark  ;  there  ever  shone  some  rays  which  betokened  a 
celestial  origin.  Barbarism  has  never  been  universal 
in  our  world.  It  is  just  as  wise  to  affirm  totality  of 
sainthood  among  men  as  totality  of  wickedness.  The 
true  man,  the  true  priest,  has  never  died  out,  nor  the 
Divine  Oracles  remained  silent  when  they  should  have 
been  vocal.  By  some  one  Heaven's  message  has  been 
delivered  to  man.  Hence  his  struggles  and  aspirations 
for  the  higher  life  and  the  diviner  character  ;  hence 
his  longings  and  endeavors  through  the  centuries  ; 
hence  his  thoughts  and  preparations  for  an  expected 
Deliverer,  in  Babylonia  and  India,  Judeaand  Iran,  and 
all  those  centres  of  civilization,  where  "  hope  eternal 
sprang  in  the  human  breast."  For  the  opposite  of 
this  view,  see  Kenan's  "  History/'  vol.  i.,  p.  178. 


20  JACOB  AND  JAPIIETH : 

Yet  quite  characteristically  he  says  :  '^  The  human 
conscience  unravelled  itself,  elevated  itself,  purified 
itself,  conceived  the  idea  of  justice,  asserted  the  prin- 
ciples of  right  and  duty  ;  then  came  language  to  define 
and  establish  these  conquests  of  mind  over  matter  !" 
It  lifted  itself  hy  itself?  Just  as  well  try  to  lift  one's 
self  by  one's  suspenders  !  How  long  could  conscience 
exist  before  language  ?  What  examples  have  we  in 
history  of  any  people  illustrating  the  possession  of  con- 
science hefore  they  had  a  spoken  language  ?  But  our 
wonder  at  such  statements  is  equalled  only  by  our 
wonder  at  this  writer  of  ancient  story  flying  in  the  face 
of  ancient  records  and  inscriptions,  which  make  God 
both  the  Creator  and  the  Teacher  of  primitive  men  ; 
which  tell  of  Sabbath-worship  and  sacrifice  in  the 
earliest  times,  thus  indicating  the  possession  of  con- 
science then  ;  which  tell  of  belief  in  immortality  and 
the  enjoyment  of  blessedness  with  the  gods,  or  of  ban- 
ishment from  heaven.  Scenes  like  the  Judgment  of 
Amenti,  and  the  region  where  Queen  Allat  reigned, 
indicate  a  conscience  in  those  who  believed  them. 
And  they  had  ideas  of  the  moral  difference  between 
virtue  and  vice.  This  knowledge  was  never  restricted 
to  Israel.  The  calling  of  Abraham  was  at  a  time 
when  those  ideas  of  religion  were  known  which  our 
second  chapter  sets  forth.  It  was  not  possible  for  man 
to  civilize  and  elevate  himself  before  the  historic 
period.  Nor  have  we  any  instance  of  a  barbarous 
people  civih'zing  themselves.  Our  American  Indians 
are  pretty  hard  to  civilize,  though  surrounded  with 
our  modern  influences.  It  devolves  upon  the  cham- 
pions of  barbarism  developing  into  a  high  measure  of 


THEIR   THEOLOGY.  21 

culture,  of  conscience,  and  of  languajjjc  to  cite  some 
examples  which  illustrate  their  theory.  The  general 
progress  of  man  "  in  diverse  centres''  is  far  too  in- 
definite ;  especially  since  ''  primitive  humanity"  is 
said  to  have  been  ''  very  malevolent  ;  that  force  was 
met  by  force  or  by  imposture  ;  love  was  accompanied 
by  reverie  ;  the  child  knew  only  his  mother,  women 
being  the  cojnmon  property  of  the  tribe  only  six  or 
seven  thousand  years  ago  !"  Compare  this  with  the 
account  of  parental  love  in  Genesis  ;  with  Abraham's 
love  for  Ishmael  as  well  as  for  Isaac  ;  with  Jacob's 
love  for  Joseph  and  Benjamin  ;  with  David's  love  for 
the  child  of  his  sin  as  well  as  for  Solomon  ;  all  which 
remain  unsurpassed  after  three  thousand  years.  Surely 
the  centre  and  source  of  all  civilization  is  the  family, 
where  parents  know  and  train  their  children,  and  need 
use  no  ''  club"  to  preserve  its  purity.  It  is  abhorrent 
to  our  history  and  experience  that  "  millions  of  women 
stoned  to  death  paved  the  way  to  conjugal  fidelity  ; 
that  the  male  kept  guard,  and  with  a  club  stoned  his 
adulterous  female  to  death  ;  that  thus  emerged  the 
morality  which  we  see  under  the  Aryan  and  Semitic 
types"  (Renan's  "  History  of  the  People  of  Israel," 
vol.  i.,  pp.  3-7.) 

The  incidents  related  in  Genesis  12,  20,  26,  3i  chap- 
ters, whenever  written,  were  true  to  life,  and  are  not 
the  sort  upon  which  to  found  such  broad  statements  ; 
rather  they  contradict  Renan's  naturalistic  theories. 
Affirmations  of  later  practices  of  "  the  natives  of  the 
Maldive  Islands  and  of  Brittany"  do  not  illustrate  the 
condition  of  early  Semites  and  Accadians  ;  nor  do  the 
irregularities  of  Olympian  deities.     We  must  have  ex- 


22  JACOB  AND  JAPHETH: 

amples  from  ancient  Egypt  and  Babylonia  duly  au- 
thenticated to  sustain  this  charge  against  woman,  and 
authorities  earlier  than  fifth-century  Herodotus. 
The  "  club  theory"  was  never  true  of  Adamic  man. 
What  nations  practised  it  ?  What  women  thus  be- 
came faithful  to  conjugal  bonds  ?  What  moral  ideas 
did  Israel  have  which  had  not  been  divinely  imparted 
to  ancient  Egyptians  and  Chaldgeans  ? 

Whence  arose  this  difference  from  the  neighboring 
nations?  When  the  Semites  "first  appeared  in 
Chaldsea  they  were  less  supplied,  we  are  told,  with 
material  comforts  than  the  older  settlers,  but  they  had 
inward  fire,  poesy,  passion,  and  craving  for  another 
life.  The  secret  of  the  future"  was  strong  in  them. 
Be  it  so  ;  but  why  this  theological  trend  in  Hebrew 
Semites  f  There  were  other  Semites  in  early  Baby- 
lonia, in  Assyria,  in  Phoenicia  ;  but  they  were  not 
famous  for  their  monotheism.  It  was  not  till  later 
that  the  regions  about  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris  be- 
came strongly  monotheistic  ;  not  till  after  Cyrus  and 
his  iconoclastic  successors.  The  one  simple  answer  is 
that  He  who  knew  what  was  in  those  Hebrews  selected 
them  to  be  the  conservators  of  true  religion  in  the 
world.  And  amid  all  their  lapses  and  corruptions 
they  certainly  did  preserve  the  knowledge  and  w^or- 
ship  of  One  Supreme  God  better  than  any  other  an- 
cient people,  not  excepting  those  who  descended  from 
the  same  stock.  The  reign  of  David  brought  them 
into  relations  with  all  Palestinians,  with  Moabites, 
Sj^rians,  Hamathites,  and  Edomites  ;  from  Joppa  to 
Damascus  and  the  great  River,  David  was  respected 
and  obeyed.     Pagan  treasure,  vessels  of  gold,  silver, 


TBEIR  THEOLOGY.  23 

and  brass  were  dedicated  to  Jehovah,  who  thus  became 
known  among  them.  Such  knowdedge  was  extended, 
because  David  had  his  recorder  and  scrihes  as  well  as 
priests,  who  kept  his  accounts,  narrated  his  deeds,  and 
wrote  his  state  papers  to  other  nations,  similar  to  onr 
State  secretaries.  See  details  in  2  Sam.  8  :  16-18. 
But  the  letter  to  Joab  to  compass  the  death  of  Uriah 
was  written  by  the  king  (cli.  11  :  14,  15).  Historians 
do  not  fabricate  such  accounts  against  kings. 

Early  Semites  cherished  self-respect,  devotion  to 
God,  regard  for  their  tribe,  love  for  their  family, 
purity  in  women.  He  generally  was  more  truly  a 
monotheist  and  less  of  a  polygamist  than  his  Aryan 
contemporaries.  Later  Aryans,  according  to  Plato 
and  Aristotle,  were  both  polygamists  and  polytheists, 
having  gods  many  and  women  many.  The  tendency 
to  a  simple  and  reasonable  worship  of  deity,  such  as 
some  writers  claim,  is  difficult  to  find  among  Greeks 
and  Romans,  how^ever  it  appears  among  early  Persians 
and  Iranians  ;  but  even  they  were  often  polygamists. 
History  cannot  be  wa-itten  in  broad  generalizations. 
I  do  not  understand  the  records  of  early  Babylon  and 
Egypt  as  showing  a  general  practice  of  polygamy  ex- 
cept by  some  of  their  kings,  though  a  tendency  to 
polytheism  early  appears.  But  by  the  eighteenth  or 
the  seventeenth  century  e.g.  there  were  efforts  in  both 
regions  to  reassert  monotheism  ;  and  who  can  say  how 
far  that  endeavor  arose  from  the  example  and  influence 
of  Abraham  ?  ''  Semites  overflowed  the  whole  plain 
of  Sumer  ;"  they  accepted  much  of  Accadian  civiliza- 
tion, and  imposed  their  religion  upon  that  country  in 
exchange.     Sargon  and  Kammurabi  consolidated  the 


24  JACOB  AND  JAPIIETU : 

Babylonian  empire  and  established  monotheism  ;  while 
in  Egypt  the  struggles  of  Apepi  against  Ra-Sekenen 
had  a  different  result.  But  Moses  at  Sinai  and  Zoro- 
aster in  Bactria  put  forth  a  manifesto  showing  that  the 
God  of  Jacob  and  of  Japheth  was  One  Supreme 
Being.  Such  proclamation  reappears  with  Cyrus  and 
his  successors  in  the  restoration  of  Israel.  Let  those 
who  treat  these  facts  differently  remember  that  truth 
may  be  varnished  and  suppressed,  but  shall  rise  again 
to  justify  itself.  Easier  is  it  to  sketch  at  random 
than  to  detail  events  of  far-off  ages,  and  the  personal 
traits  and  conduct  of  those  who  were  prominent  actors 
in  tliem. 

M.  Renan  says  :  ''  The  nomad  Semites  came  from 
Arabia  and  Sinai,  while  on  their  way  to  settlement  in 
Southern  Babylonia,  where  Ur  was  the  chief  city." 
But  Schrader  and  others  say,  ' '  The  Semites  were  orig- 
inal dwellers  on  the  southern  Euphrates  f^  that 
Abraham  Tnigrated  thence  to  Syria-Palestine,  and 
from  thence  his  descendants^  through  Ishmael  and 
Keturah'  s  sons,  peopled  Arabia,  This  latter  view  is 
a  very  different,  and  probably  the  true  account.  The 
Book  of  Joshua  is  authority  that  God  gave  Esau 
Mount  Seir  to  possess  it  ;  but  Jacob  and  his  children 
went  down  into  Egypt  (24  :  4).  When  they  were 
travelling  toward  Canaan,  the  priest  of  Midian  and 
father-in-law  of  Moses  met  them  ;  he  was  a  descendant 
of  Abraham  ;  so  was  Amalek,  who  resisted  the  passage 
of  Israel  through  that  part  of  Arabia  ;  showing  that 
two  tribes  of  a  common  origin  journeyed  thither,  first 
from  near  the  Persian  Gulf  to  Syria-Palestine,  and 
thence  southerly  to  the  peninsula  of  Arabia. 


TUEIR   THEOLOGY.  25 

Nor  do  we  find  tlie  cliaracter  of  a  bri^jaiid — so  Ilonau, 
p.  207 — in  the  opposition  of  Anialek  to  Israel.  Tliey 
were  cousins,  one  brancli  being  Jacobites,  the  other 
Esauites.  The  old  feeling  at  loss  of  the  birthright 
may  have  incited  the  Amalekites  to  avenge  themselves 
on  Jacob,  now  journeying  through  the  wilderness.  It 
was  very  wrong  but  very  human,  and  marks  the  truth 
of  the  records.  What  a  different  history  of  those 
times  would  have  been  written  if  all  the  descendants 
of  Abraham  had  early  consolidated  into  one  people  ! 
See  the  lists  in  Genesis  36  and  1  Chronicles  1  :  28-42. 
Scattered  as  they  became  through  Southwestern  Asia, 
they  yet  exerted  an  influence  upon  Babylonians  and 
those  Japhethites  whom  they  met  in  their  various 
settlements.  But  the  time  was  centuries  after  Abra- 
ham left  Ur  for  Canaan,  and  his  Arabian  descendants 
received  no  civilization  from  Accad,  because  Accad 
was  no  longer  a  civilizing  power.  Any  similarity  in 
religious  rites  and  worship  between  Abrahamites  and 
Babylonians,  between  Hebrews  from  Palestine  and 
Hebrews  from  Egypt,  must  be  traced  to  him  who  cen- 
turies before  had  been  called  out  of  Ur. 

Moreover,  the  number  of  those  Hebrew  tribes 
whom  Israel  encountered  serves  to  illustrate  the  num- 
ber of  Jacobites  at  the  era  of  the  Exodus.  Lot  in 
Amnion  and  Moal),  Esau  in  Amalek,  and  their  cousin 
Midianites,  were  their  foes  while  on  the  way  from  the 
Ked  Sea  to  the  Jordan.  Tribe  could  cope  with  tribe, 
and  at  times  with  various  fortune.  All  consolidated 
against  Jacob  would  have  extinguished  him  as  surely 
as  Abraham  extinguished  Chedorlaomer  and  his  allies. 
Or  Israel  would  have  been  lost  in  the  multitude  of 
2 


26  JACOB  AND  JAPIIETII : 

other  Abralianiites  ?  But  no  ;  consolidation  was  not 
to  Ije,  or  the  purpose  of  tlie  call  out  of  ITr  would  have 
been  frustrated,  and  the  preparation  for  the  Promised 
One  would  have  been  delayed.  National  discipline 
would  have  been  different.  Even  Midian  proved  a 
snare  ;  Milcom  and  Molech  led  to  apostasy,  which 
neither  the  priestly  tribe  of  Levi  nor  remonstrance  of 
Mosaic  prophets  wholly  corrected.  Baal-peor  was 
more  destructive  to  Israel  than  the  arms  of  Amalek  at 
Eephidim.  (Of.  Num.  25  :  1-9  ;  Ex.  17  :  8-16  ;  and 
Num.  31.)  All  this  made  an  impression  upon  the  na- 
tional mind,  especially  Amalek^s  attempt  to  be  avenged 
on  Israel  for  the  birthright.  But  Heaven  gave  victory 
to  Jacob  against  Esau  and  against  his  descendants  in  the 
wilderness.  One  wrong  was  not  to  be  righted  by  com- 
mission of  another,  nor  by  seizing  and  administering 
affairs  which  belonged  to  God. 

M.  Renan  is  careful  not  to  emphasize  the  command 
to  "  write  it  for  remembrance  in  the  hoolv^  (Ex.  17  : 
11)  ;  a  clear  proof  that  writing  was  then  known  in 
Israel.  While  resting  under  the  shady  palms  of 
Rephidim,  after  escaping  from  the  grasp  of  Pharaoh, 
Amalek  savagely  attacked  their  kinsmen  and  were  de- 
feated. The  mission  of  the  tribes  was  only  begun 
while  yet  journeying  to  the  promised  land  and  the  en- 
joyment of  its  good  things.  As  Jacob  and  Amalek 
were  grandchildren  of  the  same  parents,  they  were  in 
point  of  numbers  able  to  cope  with  each  other  ;  but 
that  was  not  the  time  for  such  encounter  ;  hence  the 
injunction  to  record  the  attack  in  a  book,  that  it  might 
be  ever  renicmbered.  The  long  lists  of  places,  stations, 
and  names  of  the  leaders  of  each  tril)e  were  also  written. 


THEIR   THEOLOGY.  27 

so  Numbers  33  :  2  to  35tli  chapter.  But  the  Law  of 
the  Covenant  was  graven  in  stone  (Ex.  20  :  2-17  ; 
Josh.  24:  :  25-27).  And  they  set  up  a  memorial  stone 
under  the  oak  by  the  sanctuary,  that  it  migiit  be  long 
preserved  and  its  influence  long  endure.  The  lan- 
guage used  was  that  of  Abraham  and  Lot  and  of  their 
ten  sons.  Abraham  could  talk  with  the  priest-king 
of  Salem,  and  Moses  with  the  priest-chief  of  Midian, 
while  the  '^  Moabite  Stone"  of  875  b.c.  proves  even 
then  the  close  affinity  of  speech  between  all  these 
Terahites,  between  the  children  of  Lot  and  the  children 
of  Abraham.  Isaac  conversed  with  Canaan ites  and 
with  Abimelech,  the  prince  of  Gerar.  Edomites  were 
brethren  of  the  chosen  people,  not  to  be  abhorred  ; 
while  Ishmaelites  were  not  often  hostile  to  their  kins- 
men of  the  Jordan.  (Cf.  Gen.  11  :  31  ;  14  :  16  ;  17  : 
20  ;  21  :  12-21  ;  26  ;  Deut.  23  :  7.)  These  Semitic 
families  had  inter-tribal  dealings  with  the  nations  near 
them,  so  the  inference  is  clear  that  Jacob  was  a  bene- 
fit to  Japheth,  and  that  Elohim-Jahveh  cared  for  the 
Gentiles  as  well  as  His  chosen  Israel. 

Moreover,  the  tribal  relationship,  similarity  of  lan- 
guage, customs,  culture,  and  original  identity  of  relig- 
ion, rendered  communication  easy  and  natural  among 
them.  Even  the  name  for  God,  Jahveh,  Elohim, 
was  as  readily  understood  by  those  peoples  as  Zeus  in 
Greece.  It  is  mere  poetry  in  Renan  to  say  that,  be- 
cause the  Hebrew  could  not  distinguish  one  El.oh  from 
another  Eloh,  he  used  the  plural  Elohhn  with  a  verb 
in  the  singular  !  A  pretty  fancy,  but  at  the  same 
time  he  admits  that  "  Elohim  is  everywhere  ;  is  uni- 
versal life  and  causation  ;  brings  to  the   birth,  slays, 


28  JACOB  AND  JAPIIETII : 

and  governs  all"  ("  History  of  tlie  People  of  Israel," 
p.  25).  Semitic  monotlieisui  only  needed  to  express 
the  idea  of  God  by  a  verb  in  the  singular,  because  it  was 
so  widely  understood  Who  was  the  subject  of  that  verb, 
and  Wlio  was  recognized  as  the  All  and  in  all.  We 
also  use  impersonal  words  and  sentences,  as  "it  rains, 
it  snows,  it  blows,  it  freezes,"  which,  by  omitting  the 
"  it,"  is  like  the  Hebrew  expression,  only  the  Hebrew 
was  more  religions  in  his  thought,  and  would  feel  that 
God  sent  the  rain,  the  wind,  and  the  frost.  So,  "  God 
luas  wisdom,  and  impai-ted  it  to  His  children  ;  was 
strengtli,  and  made  men  strong  ;  had  counsel  and  un- 
derstanding, with  which  He  endowed  the  wise.  He 
destroyed  or  broke  down,  and  it  could  not  be  restored  ; 
He  shut  up,  and  no  man  could  open."  I  fail  to  see 
why  any  theist,  especially  any  believer  in  Providence, 
can  object  to  such  expressions,  even  if  of  Hebrew 
origin.  Certainly  Socrates  would  so  speak.  And 
Pope's  Indian  "  saw  God  in  clouds  and  heard  Him  in 
the  wind."  Everywhere  the  Hebrew  looked  for  God 
and  found  Him.  Dominion  and  fear  were  with  Him. 
The  moon  and  stars  were  impure  in  His  sight,  and 
ceased  to  shine  (Job  12  :  12-11 ;  19  :  26  ;  Prov.  8  :  14). 
To  impress  God's  creative  power  and  ubiquity  upon 
the  mind  the  Divine  uiune,  or  a  part  of  it,  was  often 
incorporated  with  Hebrew  proper  names,  as  in  Abihou, 
Elihou,  Abdo,  Davdo,  which  became  Abd,  Obed, 
David,  etc.  (Penan,  pp.  26-28).  We  see  it  in  Elijah, 
in  Elisha,  and  this  form  of  it  in  more  than  fifty  names, 
according  to  Young's  Concordance,  while  Professor 
Kuenen  estimates  "  about  one  hundred  and  ninety 
personal  names  so  compounded,  or  with  Jahveh,  in 


THEIR   TUEOLOOY.  29 

tho  Old  Testament^'  (''Tlibbert  Lectures,"  1882, 
p.  QS^  English  edition).  It  was  a  perpetnal  reiniuder 
of  Deity,  hence  habitual  prayer  to  and  invocation  of 
God.  In  the  open  fields  while  tending  his  flock,  or 
sailing  on  the  rivers  in  wintry  storms,  or  engaged  with 
an  enemy  in  battle,  or  when  suffering  from  disease, 
the  Semite  prayed  to  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  all  things 
by  whatever  name  he  addressed  Ilim.  See  "  God 
Enthroned  in  Eedemption,"  pp.  48,  GO,  02.  ISTor  did 
those  different  names  imply  a  different  Deity,  but 
only  different  thoughts  of  Ilim,  or  different  attributes, 
not  in  conflict,  but  expressing  the  character  of  the 
function  to  which  the  needs  of  the  suppliant  appealed. 
And  as  angels  were,  from  the  earliest  ages,  believed 
in,  some  of  them  were  supposed  to  represent  those 
various  functions,  and  their  offices  w^ere  invoked  by 
man,  and  they  were  sometimes  adored.  Indeed,  an- 
gelic beings  and  their  worship  are  so  familiar  to  Bible 
readers  that  the  statement  of  the  fact  is  sutticient.  It 
would  be  easy  to  trace  the  worship  of  secondary  gods 
in  Babylonia  and  elsewhere  to  an  earlier  knowledge 
and  adoration  of  angels.  There  were  angels  who  ex- 
celled in  strength,  who  were  swift  messengers  to  those 
in  need,  and  who  encamped  around  God's  people  for 
their  protection.  Now  they  appeared  to  utter  warn- 
ings, as  against  Sodom  ;  now  to  announce  the  birth  of  a 
child  to  Manoali,  to  Zacharias,  and  Mary  the  Virgin  ; 
now  with  a  drawn  sword  to  Joshua  and  to  David  (Gen. 
19  ;  Judges  13  ;  St.  Luke  1  ;  Josh.  5  :  13  ;  1  Chron. 
21  :  15-27).  The  covenant  people  were  ever  defended 
as  with  a  shield,  and  ])unished  as  with  the  sword  of 
the  Lord.     Invocation  of  Ilim  would  prevent  threat- 


30  JACOB  AND  JAPIIETII: 

ened  evils  and  procnrc  needful  blessings  for  Jacob  and 
for  Japlietb.  This  sent  tlieni  to  tlie  study  of  Ilis  law, 
the  eternal  law  of  right  living,  and  to  sundry  acts  of 
piety.  Men  believed  themselves  to  be  the  sons  of 
God,  and  their  conscience  and  Divine  instruction  told 
them  of  their  personal  and  religious  duties.  This  is 
seen  in  the  fear  and  confession  of  Cain,  and  in  those 
self-willed  sons  from  whom  God  withdrew  the  striv- 
ings of  His  Spirit  (Gen.  4  :  9-15  ;  6  :  2,  3,  18,  22  ; 
8  :  20,  21  ;  9  :  8-17  ;  Job  2  :  1).  They  are  Scriptures 
which  teach  at  once  Divine  instruction  to  man,  Divine 
punishment  of  him.  Divine  covenant  with  him,  man's 
woi-ship  and  sacrifice  in  acknowledgment  of  his  duty 
to  God,  and  the  promise  of  His  continuance  of  tem- 
]x>ral  blessings  to  man.  These  are  grand  facts  of 
Biblical  and  monumental  history.  Semites  on  the 
Euphrates  and  the  Jordan  were  2?urer  monotheists  than 
later  Semites  in  Assyria.  One  striking  fact  is  worth 
noting — viz.,  that  the  Aryan  Persians,  who  succeeded 
in  the  government  of  that  country,  were  for  some  ages 
as  pure  monotheists  as  the  Hebrews  in  their  best  days. 
Aryan  Greeks,  with  their  developed  Olympus  and  its 
celestial  denizens,  only  make  the  question  of  lahy  this 
vKis  so  more  dithcult  of  sohition.  But  the  fact  is  un- 
questioned, that  those  ethnic  families  are  found  to  be 
now  monotheists,  now  polytheists,  alike  in  Egypt  and 
Babylonia,  in  Judea  and  x\ssyria.  It  is  not  to  be  ex- 
plained by  "  Semitic  tent-life,"  for  Abraham  and 
Darius  were  alike  monotheists,  as  were  Apepi,  Sargon 
of  Agade,  and  Ezra,  the  scribe  of  the  law.  Even 
Maliomet  did  the  world  some  service  by  his  crusades 
against  polytheistic  idolatry.     From  Adam  to  Seth, 


THEIR   TIIEOLOQY.  31 

to  Noah,  to  Abraliairi,  Sargon  and  Apepi,  Moses  and 
Zoroaster,  David  and  llezekiali,  Ezra  and  Darius,  men 
and  nations  worshipped  and  acknowledged  one  God, 
either  with  the  covenant  or  without  tlie  covenant. 
Renan's  tent-life  does  not  explain  it.  Human  fancy 
and  caprice  do  not  explain  it  ;  but  "  an  eternal  ten- 
dency in  men''''  to  worship^  and  in  most  men  to  return 
to  their  first  love,  or  to  the  primitive  worship  of  One 
Supreme  Being,  does  explain  it,  and  explain  it  accord- 
ing to  spiritual  laws.  This  is  the  alphabet  and  primer 
of  religion  among  men.  In  prophets  like  Elijah  and 
Isaiah,  in  kings  like  Assurbanipal  and  Cambjses,  it  be- 
came a  passion  ;  in  pliilosophers  like  Anaxagoras, 
Pythagoras,  and  Socrates,  it  was  the  outcome  of  calm 
reason.  The  portraiture  of  religion  in  Genesis  and 
Job  finds  its  reality  in  those  times  and  as  read  in  the 
inscriptions.  Generations  lived  in  their  father  ;  Levi 
paid  tithes  in  Abraham,  and  the  chief  of  a  tribe  was 
its  priest  and  judge.  The  standard  of  right  living  was 
at  first  the  inspiration  of  God,  then  conscience,  then 
an  explicit  revelation  duly  authenticated  by  Divine 
covenant  with  mankind,  now  with  patriarchs,  with 
Moses  ;  renewed  under  Joshua,  under  Samuel,  and 
later  propliets.  During  all  those  ages  the  history  of 
man  was  the  unfolding:  of  theoloo^v  and  of  laro-er  Di- 
vine  manifestations.  M.  Naville  tells  us  that  Pha- 
raohs, like  Rameses  II.,  preferred  to  mention  in  their 
religious  inscriptions  the  names  of  the  Great  God, 
Amon,  Turn,  or  Set,  rather  than  the  later  local  deity 
of  each  individual  place  (the  Academy^  January  21st, 
1888,  p.  50). 

History  has  its  contrasts  even  in  the  theology  of 


32  JACOB  AND  JAPIIETII: 

Semites.  They  are  now  nomads  and  monotheists, 
now  dwellers  in  cities  and  polytlieists  ;  at  once  the 
most  reh'gious  and  the  most  irrehgious  of  men,  tena- 
cionsly  holding  the  faith  they  profess,  whether  pure  or 
corrupt ;  and  its  effects  are  seen  in  their  life  and  con- 
duct. If  Persians  conquered  Semites  and  protected 
them  in  their  religion,  then  more  or  less  monotheistic, 
Semitic  and  other  Mahomedans  conquered  all  West- 
ern Asia,  inclnding  the  holy  places  of  Palestine,  and 
forced  their  religion  upon  the  vanquished,  and  they 
hurled  back  the  hosts  which  Christians  sent  to  regain 
those  lands  to  the  religion  of  Christ.  Babylonian 
Semites  were  the  first  Puritans  who  fought  for  the 
altars  of  their  fathers  and  the  Oneness  of  God 
C'God  Enthroned  in  Redemption,"  pp.  52,  56-60). 
Neither  naturalism  nor  culture  explains  the  facts,  for 
the  civilization  of  Sargon  and  Apepi  was  as  high  as 
that  of  Arabia  at  the  appearance  of  Mahomet.  In 
the  twentieth  century  b.c.  Abraham,  leaving  Ur,  trav- 
elled through  Babylonia  ;  in  the  sixth  century  b.c.  his 
descendants  were  carried  there  captives,  and  now,  in 
January,  1889,  report  comes  that  two  Jews  of  Bagdad 
have  bought  up  the  old  capital  city,  with  all  its  ruined 
palaces  and  temples.  It  illustrates  something  more 
than  the  revenges  of  history  ;  rather  that  what  was 
originally  true  shall  be  perpetuated.  This  bridge  of 
time,  four  thousand  years  long,  despite  its  broken 
arches  here  and  there,  connects  the  God  of  the  past 
with  our  modern  theoloocv,  and  leads  to  the  One  Su- 
preme,  who  was  worshipped  as  really  on  the  farther 
side  as  on  the  hither  side  of  those  millenniums.  Con- 
science and  culture  do  not  explain  it,  but  the  hand  of 


[THEIR   THEOLOGY.  33 

God  in  liistory  and  the  voice  of  God  in  Revelation 
explain  it  clearly,  saying,  "  Belief  in  One  God  Al- 
mighty is  not  a  growtli  in  man^  hut  a  revelation  to 
liimy  It  made  known  the  Creator  as  supervising 
Ilis  v:ork,  exercising  His  providence  over  the  affairs 
of  mankind,  directing  and  preserving  all,  rewarding 
the  good  and  punishing  the  bad,  alike  in  the  era  of 
Abraham  and  Chedorlaomer,  as  in  that  of  Ahab  and 
Elijah,  of  Jeremiah  and  Daniel. 

It  was  "  very  vague  and  confused  up  to  the  ninth 
century  b.c,"  says  Renan,  "  but  it  was  in  germ  from 
the  first."  The  size  of  that  germ  was  pretty  large, 
and  its  activity  great,  according  to  the  inscriptions  and 
our  Bible,  which  portray  men  of  the  lirst  ages  as  hav- 
ing definite  ideas  of  God,  a  day  for  His  worship,  ideas 
of  immortality  with  Him,  the  povv^er  and  activity  of 
conscience  specially  seen  in  the  sons  of  Jacob  when 
standing  before  Joseph  ;  all  this  was  as  pronounced 
and  emphatic  in  tiie  days  of  the  patriarchs  as  when 
Elijah  remonstrated  with  Ahab  and  the  priests  of 
Baal,  or  against  Israel's  halting  in  the  loyal  service  of 
Jehovah.  The  prophet  had  to  deal  with  an  apostate 
people,  wdiose  consciences  were  seared.  A  chapel  to 
Baal  had  been  established  in  Samaria,  and  the  altar  of 
Jehovah  at  Carmel  had  been  broken  down.  The  peo- 
ple were  content  to  have  it  so.  That  never-to-be- 
forgotten  vision  at  Luz-Bethel,  of  Abraham  and  Jacob, 
and  the  lesson  of  the  brethren  before  Joseph  (Gen.  17, 
28,  and  42),  demonstrate  that  ideas  of  God  and  the 
workings  of  conscience  were  not  vague  and  confused 
in  those  far-off  times.  Whatever  the  cause,  the  facts 
are  indispntable.  Those  Hebrew  shepherds  were  as 
2* 


34  JACOB  AND  JAPIIETII : 

truly  monotheists  as  Elijah  and  the  seven  thousand 
who  had  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal,  or  as  Mahomet 
and  his  Arabian  iconoclasts.  Dwelling  in  tents  or 
within  city  walls  had  nothing  to  do  with  it.  It  was  a 
fact  of  the  soul  and  its  God. 

Arabians  who  had  eighty  different  names  for  honey, 
tw^o  hundred  for  a  serpent,  five  hundred  for  a  lion, 
and  a  thousand  for  a  sword,  before  their  language  was 
preserved  in  a  written  lexicon,  might  also  have  mau}^ 
different  words  for  God  and  ideas  of  Him,  the  gift  of 
personihcation,  fertility  of  imagination  and  expression 
of  religious  thought,  without  being  polytheists.  It 
certaiuly  had  little  to  do  with  the  theology  of  their 
remote  ancestors,  who,  though  building  a  temple  to 
the  Moon-god  of  Ur,  stood  stoutly  for  Jahveh  in  Pal- 
estine and  in  Egypt.  That  they  did  this  in  the  nine- 
teenth and  the  seventeenth  centuries  b.c.  is  recorded 
in  Genesis  ;  that  many  of  them  had  become  idolaters 
in  the  ninth  century  is  recorded  in  1  Kings,  chapters 
18  and  19.  It  corrects  Renan,  pp.  38,  30.  They  are 
passages  which  high  authorities  admit  to  be  ancient  and 
genuine. 

Moreover,  the  Jahveh  of  Israel  did  everything  which 
is  ascribed  to  Aryan  deities,  thus  suggesting  a  common 
origin.  Personification  is  frequent  among  both  races. 
'^  Death  comes  hastily  upon  one,  and  takes  hold  of 
liim  ;  the  earth  opens  her  mouth  ;  the  floods  clap  their 
hands,  the  hills  skip  about,  the  sea  flies  away"  (Ps. 
18  :  4,  7  ;  50  ;  55  ;  59  ;  68  ;  78  ;  106  ;  101  ;  10). 
That  the  Hindus  applied  such  activities  to  their  deva, 
who  thus  affected  both  animate  and  inanimate  objects, 
should    not    prevent   Jacob   from   ascribing   them   to 


THEIR  THEOLOGY.  35 

Eloliim.  And  it  was  lial)Itnal  witli  liim  to  do  so  1)C- 
fore  Aryans  liad  set  foot  in  India  ;  for  the  Seniite  was 
religious  by  nature.  lie  was  less  sceptical  and  less 
superstitious  than  the  Hindus,  and  he  bore  about  in 
his  body  the  seal  of  his  covenant  God,  when  the  Hin- 
dus doubted  the  personality  of  Bralini.  Tliat  Jahveh 
had  promised  to  provide  for  His  people  quite  ex])lains 
why  they  saw  Divine  power  everywliere  manifested. 
Others,  however,  who  had  no  such  promise,  gave  free 
play  to  their  poetical  imagination.  Brahm  somehow 
was  all  and  in  all,  yet  an  abstraction  ;  inspired  their 
thoughts,  increased  their  joys,  charmed  the  song, 
pointed  the  proverb,  gave  wisdom  to  philosophers,  and 
skill  in  prose  and  in  epic.  Japheth  lived  by  Brahm, 
as  Jacob  lived  by  Jahveh. 

Singularly,  however,  Eenansays  ''  the  word  Jahveh 
was  never  employed  in  (Hebrew)  proverbial  literature, 
hecaitse  it  related  to  an  idea  anterior  to  Jahvehism" 
(p.  235).  But  many  Psalms  which  are  anterior  to  the 
Exile,  and  many  Proverbs  ofteu  contain  that  Divine 
name.  (Of.  Ps.  1  :  2,  6  ;  15  :  1  ;  19  :  T-9  ;  27  ; 
37  ;  132  ;  Pro  v.  3  :  5,  7,  9,  11,  12,  19,  26,  32,  33  ; 
G  :  16  ;  8  :  13,  22,  35  ;  9  :  10  ;  10  :  3  ;  11  :  1  ;  12  : 
2  ;  14  :  2,  26,  27  ;  15  :  3.)  These  testify  to  the  fre- 
quent use  of  Jahveh  in  Hebrew  proverbial  literature. 
Its  songs  and  sayings  were  full  of  Jahveh.  The  Song 
of  Moses  and  of  Miriam,  after  the  passage  of  the  Red 
Sea,  and  of  Deborah  upon  deliverance  from  Jabin  and 
Sisera,  were  thenceforth  among  the  most  popular  songs 
of  Israel.  ''  The  sea  saw  God,  and  fled  ;  Jordan  was 
driven  back."  Yery  thrilling  was  the  response  of 
Miriam — "  Sing  ye  to  Jahveh,  for  He  hath  triumphed 


36  JACOB  AND  JAPIIETII. 

gloriously  ;  the  horse  and  his  rider  hath  lie  thrown 
into  the  sea"  !  (Ex.  15  ;  Judges  5).  So  Balaam, 
wliose  written  account  Kalisch  places  not  later  than 
1030  B.C.,  introduces  the  covenant  name,  Jahveh,  into 
his  prophecy,  and  repeatedly  into  his  conversations 
with  Balak.  The  man  of  Pethor  and  the  men  of 
Ilamath  knew  it  well.  Kalisch  indeed  often  corrects 
Renan,  who,  with  all  his  attainments,  has  not  attained 
to  historico-Biblical  criticism.  Thus  in  one  volume 
he  objects  to  ''  Joslma"  for  not  telling  about  Samaria, 
and  in  another  volume  accepts  the  Bible  account  of  its 
being  built  in  the  tenth  century  e.g.,  but  has  not  the 
fairness  to  cancel  his  objection.  Tlie  Andover  He- 
view  smiles  at  his  false  derivation  of  words  ;  Ewald 
laughed  at  his  "  perverted  history  ;"  while  the  Acad- 
emy censures  him  for  calling  Kiug  David  a  brigand  ! 
("le  brigand  d'Adullam,"  January,  1888,  pp.  92, 
93)  :  ''  Kenan's  poetical  history,  which  treats  the  Hexa- 
teuch  as  non-historical,  cannot  stand"  before  the  added 
light  of  monumental  knowledge,  "  attesting  the  accu- 
racy of  our  Biblical  accounts,  in  the  face  of  all  redac- 
tors— Jahvistic,  Elohistic,  priestly,  and  prophetic  edit- 
ing." The  bricks  of  Pithom  prove  the  bricks  of 
Exodus. 


IT. 


THE     RELIGION     OF    ABEAIIAM,    FROM 
THE   BIBLE  AND  THE   INSCIIIPTIONS. 

The  religion  of  Israel  is  best  learned  from  tliat  of 
Abraham,  which  also  ilUistrates  that  of  Japhetli. 
Our  authorities  are  the  Bible  and  monnmental  inscrip- 
tions, which  yield  fresh  light  for  the  elucidation  of 
this  subject.  They  describe  man  as  God-created  and 
God-instructed  ;  not  as  first  a  savage  who  becomes  a 
sage,  nor  as  a  nature- worshipper  who  develops  into  a 
worshipper  of  the  God  of  nature.  They  say  nothing 
about  flintmen  and  cavemen  as  progenitors  of  the 
Adamic  race.  But  they  represent  primitive  man  as  a 
noble  and  intelligent  being  wdio  was  divinely  created 
and  divinely  instructed.  We  Und  conscience  and  the 
religious  faculty  early  developed,  \vith  positive  ideas 
of  immortality  and  of  deliverance  from  self-caused 
evils.  Thus  we  learn  that  neither  the  world  nor  man 
was  a  "  corae-by-chance."  It  is  taught  alike  in  the 
books  of  Jacob  and  the  monuments  of  Japhetli.  Sin 
was  followed  by  punishment,  and  by  the  promise  and 
hope  of  redemption.  Yet,  as  Dr.  South  strongly  says. 
''  An  Aristotle  was  but  the  ruins  of  an  Adam,  and 
Athens  but  the  rudiments  of  Paradise."  Man  wan- 
dered into  devious  ways  and  retained  small  prospect 


38  RELIGION  OF  ABRAHAM. 

of   return.     Ilis  best  desires  could   not   be    fulfilled 
without  Divine  help. 

Hence  God  chose  Abraham  to  found  a  new  nation, 
with  a  revised  or  revealed  religion.  Others  of  that 
era  knew  little  and  said  little  about  it.  But  some  cen- 
turies later  Israel  emerged  into  contemporary  history, 
now  as  slaves  in  Egypt,  and  now  as  tributary  to  As- 
syrian kings.  Of  David  and  Solomon  the  inscriptions 
have  little  to  say,  and  mistake  avenging  Jehu  for  a 
lineal  descendant  of  Ahab.  Still  those  bricks  are  no 
more  incorrect  than  Tacitus,  and  they  contain  pretty 
full  accounts  of  the  era  of  Abraham,  of  Nimrod  who 
was  before  him,  and  of  Noah  a  thousand  years  earlier. 

At  the  migration  of  the  patriarch  from  Ur  of 
Chaldea,  we  find  a  complex  cosmology  and  theology 
had  taken  the  place  of  the  religion  of  Eden.  From 
the  different  attributes  He  possessed,  from  different 
thoughts  of  Him,  the  names  for  God  had  increased  ; 
and  some  had  transformed  the  primitive  manifes- 
tation and  ideas  about  angels  into  as  many  deities. 
Some  Divine  names  were  Ilu,  El,  and  Bel,  Ann  and 
Ea,  Ra  and  J  ah.  They  were  also  classified  into  Triads, 
and  the  goddess  Nana  or  Istar  had  become  recognized. 
A  god  gave  name  to  each  day  of  the  week,  and  to 
each  planet  of  the  solar  system.  Creation  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  was  said  to  have  been  by  the  great 
God  who  created  man  and  vivified  him  b}^  His  in- 
breathed Spirit.  A  legend  tells  how  the  blood  which 
flowed  from  Bel's  head,  when  severed  from  the  body 
and  mingled  with  the  earth,  became  the  living  ele- 
ment in  man's  creation.  Thus  man  was  Divine  by 
nature  and  by  creation.     Providence  was  expressed  by 


BIBLE  AND  INSCRIPTIONS.  39 

deities  who  presided  over  birth  and  death,  work  and 
pleasure,  disease  and  pestilence,  earth  and  sky,  kind 
and  water,  heaven  and  helL  It  governed  the  orbs  of 
h'ght,  and  they  became  symbols  of  deitj.  Moreover, 
this  religionsnessof  man  found  expression  in  the  altars 
and  temples  he  erected  to  the  Divine  Being,  in  the 
sacrifices  he  offered  to  Him,  and  in  the  detailed  ritnal 
of  Ilis  worship.  To  appease  an  angry  God,  to  ])ro- 
pitiate  Ilis  favor  and  the  bestowment  of  earthly  good, 
to  thank  Ilim  for  blessings  received  and  honor  llim  by 
worship  in  a  temple  or  at  an  altar,  this  represents  the 
pious  practices  of  the  men  of  the  era  2000  b.c. 
Though  primitive  purity  and  simplicity  had  disap- 
peared, there  yet  remained,  especially  among  Semites, 
much  which  testified  of  One  Supreme  God,  of  Ilis 
Providence  rewarding  the  good  and  punishing  the 
wicked,  of  the  hopes  of  immortality,  and  of  a  prom- 
ised Deliverer  from  the  ills  of  life. 

Myths  and  legends  may  conceal  the  spiritual  charac- 
ter of  God  and  of  Ilis  Providence,  but  God  and  Provi- 
dence are  the  facts  and  belief  which  they  conceal,  for 
the  counterfeit  proves  a  true  original.  The  popular 
religion  may  have  become  as  a  wild  oliv^e-tree,  or,  as 
Schelling  happily  says,  it  was  "  religion  growing 
wild."  Paganism  could  only  represent  the  world-idea 
of  spiritual  powers  imperfectly  understood  ;  its  ele- 
ments are  called  by  St.  Paul  ^'  the  beggarly  elements 
of  the  world."  But  in  Abraham  spiritual  visions  and 
spiritual  realities  are  clearly  unfolded.  God  dwells 
again  with  man  and  instructs  him,  lifts  him  up  to  a 
higher  plane  of  life  and  thought,  appoints  and  ordains 
him  to  carry  out  the  grand  purposes  of  Deity,  and  does 


40  RELIGION  OF  ABRAHAM. 

not  permit  him  to  fail  of  accomplisliing  that  design, 
but  to  become  a  beacon  and  a  benison  to  the  nations. 
In  Abraham  we  discover  ghmpses  of  Ilim  whose  goings 
forth  were  from  of  old,  who  was  the  perfection  of 
humanity  and  its  Perfector. 

The  patriarch  believed  in  a  personal  God  and  in  His 
directing  Providence.  He  could  not  hesitate  when  he 
heard  the  voice  which  bade  him  leave  a  city  which  had 
become  a  worshipper  of  Sin,  the  Moon-god  and  of 
Istar  his  daughter.  The  theology  and  legends  of 
Sumero-Accadians  were  familiar  to  him.  From  his 
observation  of  the  starry  heavens  and  his  sacrifice  at 
sunset,  it  is  clear  that  he  followed  the  usages  of  the 
people  of  Ur.  And  when  he  left  that  centre  of  Moon- 
worship  he  went  and  abode  in  another  centre  of  Moon- 
worship.  Schrader  asks,  whether  Laban  were  not 
originally  a  name  for  the  Moon-god  of  Ilaran,  and 
says  the  more  ancient  xlssyrian  proper  names  wear  a 
Canaanite  rather  than  an  Aramaic  form  (p.  120).  At 
all  events,  Abraham  and  his  family  long  dwelt  among 
the  worshippers  of  Sin,  of  Istar,  and  of  El,  who,  like 
the  early  Egyptians,  made  the  orbs  of  heaven  symbols 
and  representatives  of  Deity.  And  there  was  an  in- 
creasing tendency  to  idolatry  and  nature-\vorship,  thus 
debasing  that  paid  to  the  Supreme  Being.  Hence  the 
need  of  a  founder  of  a  new  nation  which  should  ac- 
knowledge and  adore  Him,  and  shake  off  all  contami- 
nation from  its  neighbors.  But  that  was  only  slowly 
effected,  a  reformation  yet  to  be  achieved. 

On  his  way  along  the  Euphrates,  in  journeying 
toward  Haran,  Abraham  beheld  the  famous  temple  of 
Bel  at  Borsippa.     The  Birs-Nimrud  was  then  in  its 


BIBLE  AND  INSCRIPTIONS.  41 

pristine  glory,  with  a  golden  altar  to  Bel,  and  with 
splendid  chapels  at  the  hase  of  the  structure.  Tower 
and  temple  he  saw,  if  not  for  the  first,  certainly  for 
the  last  time,  passing  on  northward  to  Babil  above 
Babylon.  He  did  not  then  know  what  was  later  re- 
vealed to  him,  and  so  he  may  have  worshipped  at  those 
temples  the  God  who  had  spoken  to  him  in  Ur.  The 
founder  of  the  Hebrew  nation  probably  visited  those 
temples,  one  of  which  was  rebuilt  by  King  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, who  some  fourteen  centuries  afterward  con- 
quered the  descendants  of  Abraham,  and  carried  them 
to  that  same  country  through  which  he  then  passed. 
He  was  also  cognizant  of  the  Tower  legends  of  Baby- 
lonia, which  Schrader  ''  bases  upon  the  actual  exist- 
ence of  some  structure  erected  in  former  times,  whose 
ruins  still  exist  at  Babel  and  Borsippa."  The  south- 
ern ruin  is  called  Birs-Kimrud,  where  stood  the  temple 
of  the  ''  Seven  Lights  of  Heaven  and  Earth,"  dedi- 
cated to  Bel-Nebo,  which  Nebuchadnezzar  restored  and 
dedicated  to  Bel-Merodach,  the  chief  deity  of  Babylon 
at  that  time.  The  northern  ruin  above  Babylon  is 
Babil,  which  was  a  pyramid  temple,  a  '^  house  of  tow- 
ering summit,"  built  in  stages  like  the  temple  at 
Borsippa.  It  was  also  called  the  "  Palace  of  Heaven 
and  Earth,  the  Dwelling  of  Bel,  House  of  the  highest 
god  Merodach."  Present  infonnation  cannot  deter- 
mine which  of  these  ruins  nuirks  the  site  of  the  fa- 
mous tower  at  wdiose  erection  "  a  god  confounded 
their  speech,"  but  the  trend  of  opinion  inclines  to  the 
southern  mound.  It  contains  the  remains  of  a  large 
pyramidal  structure  which  was  crowned  by  a  temple  six 
hundred   feet  higher  than  the  plain.      Within  it  was 


42  RELIGION  OF  ABUAIIAM. 

an  altar  of  pure  gold  ;  in  later  times  an  image  of 
Merodacli  ;  but  originally  the  sanctuary  was  without  a 
statue.  Chapels  on  the  first  story  contained  the 
image  of  a  god  sitting  on  a  golden  throne,  behind  a 
golden  altar  whereon  a  thousand  pounds  of  incense 
were  consumed  at  the  annual  festival.  "  The  God  of 
a  great  people  was  worshipped  at  great  cost."  And 
lie  was  w^orshipped  where  our  fathers  little  expected. 
Schrader  suggests  that  the  God  of  Abraham  was 
known  as  "  Jahveli"  to  Hamathites,  and  Stade  in  his 
"  Israel"  that  He  was  so  known  to  the  Kenites. 
Jahu  seems  to  have  been  a  synonym  for  Ilu  in  Assy- 
rian, and  to  have  worked  its  way  among  Hebrews  and 
Arameans.  The  word  indicated  a  God  who  was  the 
^'  Life-dispenser."  Dr.  Legge  says  that  "  King  Yew 
who  reigned  four  thousand  two  hundred  and  forty-five 
years  ago,  and  King  Shun  four  thousand  and  ninety- 
five  years  ago,  both  worshipped  and  sacrificed  to  the 
Most  High  God  before  Abraham  was  born. ' '  These 
kings  illustrate  how  far  true  religion  had  then  spread 
in  the  Chinese  world. 

Then,  too,  the  story  of  Eden  and  the  Sacred  Tree, 
of  the  Fall  of  man  and  the  guarding  seraphim,  had 
the  freshness  of  youth.  Often  is  the  serpent  seen 
fisrnred  on  the  monuments  ;  a  tree  with  hano^ino; 
clusters  of  fruit  occupies  a  prominent  position  in  the 
representations  which  have  been  preserved  for  thou- 
sands of  years.  It  is  a  "  fruit-tree"  in  concrete  or 
generic  form,  but  not  the  palm  ;  so  Schrader  (p.  39). 
And  as  cherubim  were  sentinels  at  the  entrance  to 
Paradise,  so  we  find  them  pictured  on  the  monuments 
as  colossal   bulls   and  lions  with  human  faces,  guar- 


BIBLE  AND  INSCRIPTIONS.  43 

diaiis  alike  of  palaces,  temples,  and  city  walls.  Prob- 
ably of  iKihylonian  oiigin,  they  appear  in  the  account 
of  the  Fall,  and  reappear  in  the  prophecy  of  Ezekiel, 
in  the  cherubim  of  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  and  in 
the  Apocalypse  of  St.  John.  Anciently  they  were 
the  mute  sentinels  and  guardians  in  front  of  royal 
houses  and  temples,  of  the  king  upon  his  throne,  and 
they  symbolized  the  majesty  of  Heaven.  When  placed 
within  a  temple,  they  may  have  suggested  care  of  the 
sacred  edifice  and  faithfulness  in  the  ministrations  of 
the  priests.  Watchful  eyes  were  ever  gazing  upon 
them.  But  whatever  was  meant  by  these  cherubim, 
Eden  and  the  Sacred  Tree  were  popular  legends  in  the 
Ur  of  Abraham.  The  word  for  garden  was  quite  as 
likely  original  with  Semites  as  with  Accadians  ;  so 
Schrader  (p.  2S),  who  sees  no  good  reason  for  not  re- 
garding the  story  of  the  Tree  of  Life  and  the  Tree  of 
Knowledge  as  closely  connected  with  the  narrative  of 
the  Fall  on  the  Assyrio-Bab3donian  monuments.  The 
differences  are  a  secondary  matter,  and  probably  arose 
with  the  Hebrews.  Existence  of  such  Icij^ends  amonoj 
those  peoples  at  that  time  is  a  point  to  be  remembered. 
They  did  not  originate  them. 

Moreover,  the  story  of  the  serpent  at  that  time  will 
not  budge  at  our  bidding.  It  is  often  seen  on  the 
monuments,  figured  in  the  tree,  near  the  person,  at 
an  altar,  seen  with  one  head  and  with  seven  heads  ; 
a  tree  also  is  seen  with  fruit,  or  with  leaves  only  and 
branches  in  sets  of  sevens,  thus  early  a  sacred  num- 
ber. We  cannot  exscind  the  tree  nor  the  serpent  from 
those  ancient  memorials.  Thus  Eden  or  Paradise 
may  be  regarded  as  thoroughly  historical,  locally  de- 


44  RELIGION  OF  ABRAHAM, 

fined  and  colored,  and  blended  with  the  history  of  the 
region  about  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris.  Sehrader 
makes  it  of  Babylonian,  not  Hebrew,  origin.  Ewald 
accepts  it  as  well  authenticated.  M.  Lenorniant,  the 
two  Delitzsches,  and  Fritz  Ilonimel,  all  emphasize  the 
historical  character  of  Abraham  and  of  the  leading 
ideas  connected  with  him.  Thus  Ilommel  says  his 
"  exodus  from  Babylonia,  the  battle  of  the  Canaanites 
with  the  Elamite  league  in  the  valley  of  Siddim,  and 
the  journey  of  Abraham  to  Egypt  are  historical  facts." 
Mr.  G.  Smith  suggested  that  "  Amar-phel"  of  Gen. 
14  was  to  be  found  among  Babylonian  titles,  and  that 
^'  Arioch"  is  identical  with  Eriaku  or  Rim-agu,  who 
was  the  son  and  successor  of  Kudur-Mabug  ;  showing 
that  chapter  to  be  in  linguistic  and  historical  harmony 
with  the  monuments.  From  them  we  learn  that  Elam- 
ite kings  exercised  at  one  time  hegemony  or  sover- 
eignty in  Babylonia,  and  that  Chedorlaomer  of  Flam 
was  the  chief  of  the  combination  which  Abraham  rout- 
ed and  extinguished,  so  that  his  name  no  more  ap- 
peared in  the  history.  lie  belonged  to  the  Elamite 
dynasty  of  Kudur-Mabug,  whose  bricks  have  been  dis- 
covered, and  disclose  tlie  power  of  the  Kudurids. 
One  of  those  kings,  Kudur-Naklmnta,  is  reported  to 
have  "  laid  hands  on  the  temple  of  Accad,"  carrying 
off  an  image  of  the  goddess  Nana,  the  Istar  of  that 
city,  wdiich  Assurbanipal,  in  651  b.c.  or  sixteen  hun- 
dred and  thirty-five  years  afterward,  recaptured  and 
returned  to  Freeh,  when  he  subdued  the  Elamite 
country  to  his  rule.  (G.  Smith's  "Assurbanipal;" 
Schrader's  "  Cunei.  Inscrip.,"  p.  122;  Kawlinson's 
''  Egypt  and  Babylon,"  p.  11.) 


BIBLE  AND  INSCRIPriONS.  45 

Tliat  first  capture  was  before  Apcpi's  effort  to 
liave  only  One  God  worsliipped  at  Thebe.s,  when  11a- 
Sekenen  was  sub-king.  Efforts  to  establisb  nionotlie- 
isni  were  made  in  Babylonia,  but  after  long  struggles 
tlie  adherents  of  Bel-Merodacli  supplanted  the  elder  Bel. 
(See  Professor  Sajce's  "  Ilihbcrt  Lectures"  for  1887.) 

It  is  conceded  that  the  Semites  of  Ur  appropriated 
to  their  use  what  suited  them  in  the  Accadian  cultus 
and  made  it  their  own.  Thus  Babylonian  ideas  were 
scrutinized,  perhaps  changed  in  j^articuhu's  to  suit 
their  views  before  ado])tion.  Abraham  may  have  He- 
braized current  legends,  winnowing  the  chaff'  from 
the  wheat,  the  false  from  the  true,  and  so  reproduced 
the  early  facts.  True  in  substance,  he  preserved  the 
truth  in  details  and  significance  under  the  guiding 
Spirit  of  God  ;  true  alike  for  Jacob  and  for  Japheth. 

Originality  in  Hebrew  records  of  the  Fall  and  the 
Deluge  is  of  less  moment  than  their  truthfulness. 
The  monumental  writings  of  Babylonia  and  Ass3a'ia 
affirm  the  same  grand  facts  of  history  wliicli  Israel  ac- 
cepted. Careful  sifting  of  the  inscriptions  from  Ac- 
cad,  Borsippa,  Nineveh,  etc.,  yields  substantial  agree- 
ment in  all  important  facts.  Their  Flood  account  is 
not  later  than  800  b.c.  ,  so  Schrader,  though  the  He- 
brews were  familiar  with  it  from  a  much,  earlier  date^ 
or  when  Abraliam  migrated  from  Ur.  But  it  is  said 
tliat  the  moulding  of  traditions  into  literary  form  was 
after  the  settlement  in  Palestine.  Isaiah  (51:  :  9)  and 
Ezekiel  (11:  :  14,  20)  speak  of  Noah  and  the  Deluge 
as  lono;  known  to  Israel,  so  it  must  have  been  a  recoir- 
nized  fact  of  their  early  history.  Its  form  and  that  of 
the  creation  narrative  must  have  received  their  last 


46  RELIGION  OF  ABRAHAM. 

Hebrew  coloring  before  tiie  oigbtli-centiiry  prophets. 
Whoever  was  the  original  writer,  our  biblical  version 
bears  the  impress  of  antirpiitj  and  the  guidance  of 
inspiration.  Even  ^'  the  great  bow  which  Anu 
created"  is  verified  in  Hebrew  and  Assyrian,  and  was 
probably  an  original  part  of  the  account  when  Abra- 
ham first  heard  it  ;  when  Accadian  legends  and  poetry 
were  in  their  bloom,  and  when  critics  were  not  con- 
cerned to  make  them  of  the  date  of  Assurbanipal,  or 
centuries  before  him.  (''  Chaldean  Account  in  Gen- 
esis ;"  F.  Lenormant,  and  the  chapter  on  "  Deluge 
Legends"  in  "  God  in  Creation.") 

Witnesses  of  the  Fall  and  wickedness  of  man  were 
to  be  seen  on  all  sides,  in  the  lives  of  the  people,  in 
their  worship,  in  their  historic  legends  and  family 
records,  in  their  totems  and  their  temples.  But  it 
may  well  be  doubted  whether  the  account  given  by 
Herodotus  of  the  prostitution  of  women  at  religious 
rites  in  Babylonia  is  true  in  b.c.  2000.  N'ot  so  early 
had  that  people  adopted  rites  which  dishonored  wom- 
en. But  the  explanation  of  moral  debasement  may 
be  found  in  the  influence  of  fallen  spirits  who  domi- 
nated the  earth,  called  the  dragon,  the  old  serpent,  or 
Typho  ;  among  the  Japhethites  of  Iran  and  India  the 
evil  being  who  led  the  first  man  astray,  through  whose 
lie  the  first  of  our  race  fell  into  sin  and  under  the 
power  of  evil.  Hence  were  permitted  burning  heats 
and  freezing  cold,  disease  and  death,  because  the  first 
man  listened  to  the  luring  words  of  the  serpent. 
Ejected  from  heaven  he  had  fallen  to  earth,  and  the 
Divine  majesty  had  departed.  ("  Khorda-Avesta," 
35  :  7,  -10  ;'  "  Yasma,"  \)  :  II,  21.) 


BIBLE  AND  INSCRIPTIONS.  47 

Deliverance  mnst  bo  the  work  of  aiiotlier,  of  a  Di- 
vine man  who  will  acconiplisli  salvation  by  the  truth 
He  preaches.  Some  Avatar,  son  of  Zoroaster  born 
in  heaven,  will  effect  this  by  appearing  as  the  Medi- 
ator and  Redeemer  of  man.  Meantime,  let  cleansing 
tire  ever  burn  in  sacred  offerings  ;  let  sacrifice  and 
worship  appease  the  offended  majesty  of  God,  save 
from  the  evil  one,  prepare  for  the  Sosiosh  and  immor- 
tal life.  Indeed,  was  not  the  worship  of  men  derived 
from  that  of  lieaven  ?  Did  not  the  Divine  maker  of  the 
celestial  sacrifice  teach  it  to  men  ?  The  "  Kig  Yeda" 
identities  the  earthly  priest  with  Agni  who  sacriticed 
and  prayed  as  a  Mediator.  Barth  says  :  "  Thrice  a 
day  was  the  offering  of  libations  ;  a  perpetual  fire  ;  no 
idols,  no  temples  ;  the  family  hearth  was  the  sanc- 
tuary" ("  Heligion  of  India").  Thus  men  were  to 
prepare  in  life,  that  when  "  dying  they  might  go  to 
the  gods,  the  blessed  abode  where  pious  men  rejoice." 
The  consequence  of  sin  was  snpposed  to  be  removed 
by  confessing  it,  and  by  the  mediation  of  Agni,  who 
was  invoked  to  intercede  for  man.  "  O  Agni,  turn 
away  from  us  the  anger  of  Yaruna  !"  Such  was  the 
early  teaching  of  Japheth.  "  Conscience  or  the  old 
man  within"  quickened  the  sense  of  riglit  and  duty. 
In  the  heart  was  believed  to  dwell  the  Supreme  Spirit, 
the  silent  oljserver  of  all  good  and  evil  thoughts  ;  he 
sat  as  a  god  in  righteous  judgment.  Sophocles  de- 
scribes conscience  as  a  god  who  grows  not  old.  There 
is  much  more  of  a  didactic  sort  in  the  "  Rig  Veda" 
(IV.,  VII.  93,  7  ;  VIII.,  X.  40,  11  ;  I.  125,  S  ;  II.  29, 
4,  5  ;)  "  Laws  of  Menu"  (IV.  175)  ;  "  God  Enthroned 
in  Creation  and  Redemption"  (pp.  GS,  70,  30-35).     But 


48  RELIGION  OF  ABRAHAM, 

not  so  early  had  tlio  Hindus  attained  sucli  knowledge  ; 
in  the  days  of  Abraham  they  yet  dwelt  in  their  native 
home.  The  primitive  centre  of  civilization  after  the 
Deluge  was  Babylonia,  whence  colonists  migrated  in 
all  directions,  carrying  with  them  similar  ideas  of  re- 
ligion and  the  standard  of  ethics  which  then  prevailed. 
"  As  in  this  life  we  pass  throngh  childhood,  man- 
hood, and  old  age,  so  death  disrobing  us  of  one  body 
gives  ns  another.  The  arrows  cannot  pierce  the  soul, 
nor  the  fire  burn  it,  nor  the  waters  drown  it,  nor  the 
winds  dry  it  up  ;  it  is  imperishable.  It  is  not  born  ; 
it  does  not  die  ;  it  is  eternal."  (Bhishma-parva,  Y. 
1157.)  We  are  enjoined  to  remember  that  man  is 
born  alone,  dies  alone,  and  alone  shall  receive  the  rec- 
ompense of  his  deeds,  good  or  bad  (''  Laws  of  Menu," 
IV.  210-12).  Purity,  temperance,  tnithfulness,  self- 
control,  returning  good  for  evil,  virtue,  knowledge  of 
the  sacred  books — this  was  how  to  attain  the  perfec- 
tion of  Brahm.     Tennyson  tersely  expresses  it  as  : 

"Self-reverence,  self-knowledge,  self-control." 

But  the  Yeda  were  before  the  name  of  Brahm  ;  and 
before  any  Hymns  to  Yaruna,  to  Indra  and  to  Agni, 
Egypt  had  formulated  her  Book  of  the  Dead,  with 
which  Abraham  proliably  became  acquainted  during 
his  sojourn  in  the  Nileland.  He  was  the  equal  of  his 
peers  in  knowledge  of  human  duty,  ethics  in  the 
broad  sense,  loj^alty  to  God  and  to  man,  and  in  belief 
that  present  conduct  would  determine  man's  future 
happiness.  Like  Tennyson  he  would  have  "  more  of 
reverence  in  us  dwell,  that  mind  and  soul  might  well 
accord."     Apart  from  special  inspiration  he  was  an  in- 


BIBLE  AND  INSCRIPTIONS.  49 

telUgent,  well-cnltured  man,  witli  larc;c  reli\i»-i()us  at- 
tainiuents.  From  the  Saints'  Calendar  and  tlie  De- 
scent of  Istar,  the  Book  of  the  Dead,  and  the  legend 
of  Osiris  and  Horns,  Abraham's  ideas  of  life  and  death 
were  probably  in  advance  of  Hebrews  generally  in  the 
period  between  Moses  and  David.  The  sacred  name 
of  his  covenant  God  snggested  to  him  the  Life-giver 
and  the  Life-dispenser,  the  One  who  ever  is,  who  had 
breathed  the  immortal  spirit  into  man  and  made  him 
a  living  soul.  He  certainly  had  no  need  to  buttress 
liis  faith  by  prehistoric  inquiries  about  trepanning, 
proving,  and  illuvstrating  how  men  of  the  Neolithic 
Age  expressed  their  ideas  of  existence  out  of  the  body. 
To  him  it  would  probably  appear  like  a  grim  joke  to 
sec  amulets  placed  in  the  skulls  of  dead  men  in  order 
to  secure  happiness  and  exemption  from  evil  in  their 
disembodied  state  !  Writers  in  "  Fossil  Men"  tell  us 
that  some  ancients  did  this,  and  so  disclosed  the  in- 
stinct of  immortality  which  they  early  cherished.  In 
men  who  hardly  knew  how  to  build  a  hut  better  than 
the  lair  of  a  wild  beast,  there  was  that  which  prompted 
them  to  provide  an  eternal  habitation  for  their  dead. 
Qui  net  is  surely  right  in  saying  (in  "  La  Creation"), 
''  After  such  a  beginning  of  evidence  of  immortal 
cravings,  all  that  remains  is  easy  of  belief."  llealm 
of  Allat,  Descent  of  Istar,  Life  eternal  in  the  land  of 
the  silver  sky.  Book  of  rules  for  guidance  through 
Amenti — all  nn'ght  be  developed  from  that  small  be- 
ginning ;  rather  it  was  the  outcome  of  the  inbreathed 
spirit  of  God  and  of  original  instruction  to  man  ;  to 
Abraham  in  large  measure,  with  knowledge  of  defeat 
in  Eden  to  l)e  followed  by  One  who  was  to  be  born  of 
3 


50  RELIGION  OF  ABRAHAM. 

a  woman  in  descent  from  him,  and  who  would  drive 
the  evil  worker  into  eternal  darkness,  and  exalt  the 
struggling  sons  of  men  nnto  eternal  life.  It  was  then 
but  the  morning  of  God's  world,  which  Satan  tried  to 
dominate,  and  ere  the  eventide  drew  on  the  perfect 
Light  would  illume  the  hearts  of  men  and  prepare 
them  for  the  brighter  light  of  Heaven.  Thus  the  re- 
demption of  mankind  was  revealed  to  Abraham  as  the 
eternal  glory  of  his  race.  His  Son  and  Lord  should 
sway  the  sceptre  of  the  world,  because  He  would  be- 
come the  Saviour  of  the  world,  and  by  Divine  grace 
draw  all  men  unto  Him.  Did  not  the  Spirit  of  Wis- 
dom enable  Plato  to  say  that  men  are  allured  to  virtue 
and  holiness  by  Divine  influence  and  by  intercourse 
with  good  men  ?  The  godhke  within  us  seeks  its 
counterpart  without.  The  spiritual  loves  the  spirit- 
ual. The  lofty  soul  seeks  Divine  and  lofty  souls.  So 
we  say  with  Bishop  Martensen  ("  Christian  Dogmat- 
ics," p.  807),  the  "  Divine  love  that  knew  from  eter- 
nity the  possibility  of  the  Fall,  also  found  from  eternity 
the  way  of  Redemption."  It  was  disclosed  to  Adam 
and  to  Abraham  ;  Japheth  had  adumbrations  of  it, 
dim  indeed,  but  true.  (See  "  God  Enthroned  in  Ke- 
demption,"  Chapters  IIL  and  I\^.) 

Opportunity  to  prepare  for  it  was  the  seventh-day 
Sabbath,  universally  observed  in  the  first  ages.  Hence 
seven  became  the  number  for  sanctity  and  for  the  days 
of  the  week.  On  the  seventh  day  no  work  was  to  be 
done.  This  was  an  old  Babylonian  institution  which, 
as  Schrader  says,  the  Hebrews  brought  with  them 
after  their  stay  in  South  Babylonia,  at  Ur  Kasdim — 
i.e.,  Ur  of  the  Chaldees.     The  importance  of  this  sub- 


BIBLE  AND  INSGItlPTIONS.  51 

ject  and  want  of  space  here  may  excuse  a  reference  to 
the  author's  chapter  on  "  The  P'irst  Sahljatli  and 
Primitive  Worship"  in  "  God  Enthroned  in  Eedemp- 
tion."  Henan  objects  to  the  Semitic  observance  of 
the  seventh  day,  because  of  their  nomad  condition. 
But  where  the  skies  during  a  long  summer  were  al- 
ways clear,  and  where  the  agriculturist  had  no  diffi- 
culty in  gathering  his  harvest  or  in  pasturing  his 
flocks,  such  objection  falls  flat.  And  the  inscriptions 
testify  to  a  week  of  seven  days,  to  prescribed  sacrifices 
and  details  of  worship  for  that  day.  They  also  name 
the  god  who  was  to  be  worshipped  on  the  several  Sab- 
baths. Of  this  evidence  Renan  says,  "  Assyria  had 
from  the  very  first  her  castes  of  servants  and  priests 
and  the  w^eekly  Sabbath.  The  seven  planets  gave 
their  names  to  the  seven  days  of  the  week,  and 
the  seventh  day  had  special  characteristics  which 
marked  it  as  a  day  of  rest,"  '^History  of  Israel." 
Again,  "  the  dwelling-place  of  primitive  humanity 
was  Lower  Chaldea,  with  its  Paradise  and  Sacred 
Tree"  (p.  59).  Abraham  had  no  relations  with  the 
then  small  Assyria,  but  he  migrated  from  his  native 
Ur  to  Haran,  carrying  with  him  all  he  approved  of 
its  religion,  its  art,  and  its  literature.  It  was  many 
centuries  before  the  supremacy  of  the  northern  em- 
pire ;  seven  at  least  before  its  first  Shalmaneser 
reigned  ;  it  was  when  the  Siimero-Accadians  were  yet 
strong  and  their  poetry  was  in  full  bloom  ;  Sabbath 
observance  was  then  regnant.  The  God  worsliip])ed 
on  that  day  disproves  Kenan's  saying,  ''  AVith  our  tears 
we  make  for  ourselves  a  God."  Tears,  indeed,  may 
suggest  the  need   of  a   God,   and   urge   men    to  seek 


52  RELIGION  OF  ABRAHAM. 

Him  ;  l)iit  the  Gocl  of  Abraham  was  not  evolved  from 
tears  and  sorrow.  He  revealed  Himself  as  his  God 
and  the  God  of  all  maidvind.  Jacob  and  Japhetli, 
Ishmael  and  Esau  knew  Him.  Not  limited  to  Pales- 
tine, Jaliu  was  known  at  Hamatli  in  the  north  and  by 
Kenite  in  the  south.  All  holy  men  of  old  felt  the  in- 
fluence of  His  Spirit  ;  Zoroaster  in  Bactria,  Numa  in 
Italy,  Socrates  in  Greece. 

Abraham  did  not  lead  the  life  of  a  recluse  in  his 
native  city.  Legend  portrays  him  as  often  sitting  in 
public  places,  speaking  words  of  wisdom  and  counsel 
to  those  who  heard  him.  Some,  indeed,  affirm  that 
he  was  persecuted,  like  the  later  philosopher  of  Athens, 
and  obliged  to  fly  for  safety.  However  that  may  be, 
we  have  Scripture  authority  for  saying,  he  was  con- 
federate with  Mamre,  the  Amorite,  that  he  made 
friends  in  Egypt,  and  with  Abimelech,  King  of  Gerar. 
The  priest-king  of  Salem  gave  him  his  benediction, 
and  the  Canaanite  chiefs  whom  he  aided  against  Ched- 
orlaomer,  publicly  thanked  him  for  his  services  (Gen. 
14).  If  his  intercession  for  the  sinners  of  Sodom  mark 
him  as  the  benefactor  of  man,  his  bold  and  strong 
Jahvehism  marks  him  as  the  friend  of  God.  Even 
the  covenant-seal  of  circumcision  which  he  received 
and  administered  to  his  sons  was  also  administered  to 
three  or  four  hundred  trained  servants.  It  was  avail- 
able to  all  who  would  receive  it.  By  the  Arabians 
who  are  descended  from  him,  his  name  is  embalmed 
with  precious  memories,  because  of  his  character  and 
influence.  His  moral  force  passed  from  one  centre  of 
civilization  to  another,  blessing  the  world  and  prepar- 
ing the  way  for  Him  who  took  the  sting  from  death 


BIBLE  AND  INSCRIPTIONS.  53 

and  secured  innnortality  for  all  l)elievers.  Jesus  could 
truly  say  to  the  Jews,  ''  Your  father  Abraham  re- 
joiced to  see  my  day  ;  he  saw  it,  and  was  ^-Jad."  It 
has  o-latldened  mankind.  We  need  no  other  testimony 
to  the  religion  of  Abraham.  His  faith  in  God  was 
strong,  when  faith  was  weak  among  men,  and  they 
were  becoming  naturalists  and  polytheists.  For  four 
and  twenty  years  he  had  liv^ed  in  Palestine  without 
seal  or  sacrament,  wiien  he  received  the  sign  of  cir- 
cumcision. Before  that  he  was  sustained  by  prayer 
and  promise,  by  sacrifice  and  by  Providence.  The  old 
Saints'  Calendar  may  have  guided  him  in  the  daily 
worship  of  God,  and  he  had  the  assurance  that  he 
pleased  God.  Moreover,  he  w^as  one  of  Ilis  elect  for 
personal  and  national  benefit.  Many  of  his  descend- 
ants perished  in  their  wickedness,  not  because  they 
were  not  elected  to  privilege,  but  because  of  their  re- 
bellion against  God,  now  in  the  matter  of  Korah,  and 
now  by  apostasy  ;  for  which  they  were  punished,  now 
by  pestilence,  now  by  serpents,  now  by  earthquake.  All 
the  twelve  disciples  of  our  Lord  heard  His  saving 
message,  yet  one  of  them  betrayed  Him  and  went 
to  his  own  place.  Baal  or  Chemosli  called  louder  than 
Jail  veil  to  six  of  Abraham's  eight  sons.  St.  Paul 
illustrates  how  one  may  know  his  duty,  but  persist  in 
not  doing  it,  till  a  lightning  flash  of  grace  arrests  and 
saves  him.  Such  has  been  the  history  of  Redemption 
among  men.  Some,  indeed,  expect  grace  to  become 
violence^  not  content  that  the  grace  of  privilege  only 
precedes  grace  in  activity  ;  the  Divine  suggests  the 
human  side  of  salvation.  So  far  as  we  can  see  in  the 
case  of  Abraham,  there  was  notliing  to  prevent  other 


54  RFAAOION  OF  AJUiAIIAM. 

men  of  Ur  and  other  men  in  Pcalestine,  as  witness  the 
King  of  Salem,  from  serving  Jehovah,  except  their 
own  choice,  which  led  them  to  neglect  present  oppor- 
tunities for  securing  eternal  blessings  ;  which  allowed 
them  to  sacrifice  eternal  joys  for  temporal  pleasures. 
Lot  was  tiuice  saved  by  Abraham,  for  he  had  chosen 
Sodom  and  the  plain  country  about  it.  Thus  few 
men  of  his  time  exerted  a  larger  influence.  "  I  know 
Abraham,"  said  the  Lord  (have  covenanted  with  him) 
*'  that  he  will  command  his  children  and  his  house- 
hold after  him,  that  the  Lord  may  bring  upon  Abra- 
ham that  wdn'ch  He  hath  spoken  of  him"  (Gen. 
18  :  19).  This  teaches  that  man  must  do  his  part,  in 
order  that  God  may  fulfil  His  promise.  Children  of 
the  covenant  must  obey  the  terms  of  that  covenant, 
otherwise  the  blood  of  the  Bull  of  Mithra  would  be  as 
efficacious  as  that  of  the  promised  Lamb  to  take  away 
sin. 

The  intercessor  for  Sodom  was  taught  very  emphat- 
ically to  substitute  a  ram  for  a  sacrifice  instead  of 
Isaac.  The  firstlings  of  Abel's  flock  were  acceptable 
to  God,  while  the  ofl'ering  of  Cain  was  not,  because 
not  oSered  with  a  right  spirit,  and  was  not  a  sacrifice. 
Noah  took  of  every  clean  animal  and  of  fowl,  and 
offered  burnt- offerings  on  the  altar.  Thus  the  prac- 
tice became  universal  and  of  a  sacramental  character, 
for  part  of  the  sacrifice  was  eaten  ;  compacts  were 
thus  solemnized,  alliances  rendered  obligatory  (Gen. 
15  :  7-18  ;  31  :  43-51).  The  passing  of  fire  between 
the  pieces  of  a  sacrificial  victim  indicated  the  Divine 
acceptance.  In  Gen.  15  :  17  it  probably  symbolized 
the  presence  of  God  ;  the  word  there  rendei'ed  lamp 


BIBLE  AND  INSCRIPTIONS.  56 

also  moans  a  flame  or  tongue  of  flro  ;  so  in  tlie  Divine 
appearance  to  Moses  in  the  burning  hush  (Ex.  3  :  2), 
In  both  cases  there  was  Are  to  symbohze,  and  there 
was  a  voice  to  emphasize  the  presence  of  God  to 
Abraham  and  to  Moses  ;  but  there  was  no  image  or 
material  form.  Jacob  and  Laban  made  a  hea])  of 
stones  with  a  central  one  for  a  pillar,  eating  bread  upon 
the  heap,  as  a  sacramental  seal  and  witness  of  renewed 
friendship.  Hence  columns  placed  in  the  ground  and 
consecrated  by  pouring  oil  upon  them  came  into  com- 
mon use,  and  in  later  times  covered  Arabia,  especially 
the  region  of  Mecca  ;  previous  to  Mahomet  they  were 
regarded  as  sacred.  A  similar  custom  of  stone  use 
extended  northward  through  Phoenicia  (Conder's 
''  Syrian  Stone  Lore  ;"  Renan's  "  History  of  Israel  "). 
Besides  the  Sabbath,  New  Year,  and  royal  days, 
whose  observance  generally  prevailed  in  the  era  of 
Abraham,  stated  festivals  were  few.  A  great  feast 
was  made  at  the  weaning  of  Isaac  ;  Isaac  and  Abim- 
elech  feasted  at  the  digging  of  a  well  and  to  seal  a 
covenant  between  them  (Gen.  2G).  Fasting  was 
practised  by  ancient  Arabs,  by  Assyrians  of  the  time 
of  Jonah  and  Nahum,  and  previously  by  Hebrews. 
David  fasted  for  iiis  sick  child.  Fasting  was  probably 
enjoined  by  Moses  ;  it  is  mentioned  in  Judges  20  :  26 
as  continuing  one  day  ;  at  the  death  of  Saul  and  Jon- 
athan people  fasted  seven  days(l  Sam.  31  :  13).  The 
custom  extended  and  the  time  lengthened  to  forty 
days  at  Xineveh.  Daniel  fasted  and  prayed  at  Baby- 
lon (Dan.  9).  Benan  tells  of  an  early  Semitic  cele- 
bration in  the  spring,  characterized  by  the  use  of  un- 
leavened bread  ;  but  he  cites  no  proof  earlier  than  the 


56  RELIGION  OF  ABRAHAM. 

Passover,  wliicli  was  a  complex  festival.  Slieepsliear- 
iiig',  the  vintage  harvest,  and  the  new  moon  were  joy- 
ful occasions  observed  by  Samuel  and  David,  prob- 
ably much  earlier.  Festivals  under  tents  and  the  feast 
of  tabernacles,  with  some  other  rites,  were,  we  are 
told,  common  to  all  Semitics.  The  feast  of  taber- 
nacles is  said  to  be  a  souvenir  of  primitive  life,  pre- 
served even  by  those  who  had  wandered  farthest  from 
their  ancestral  home.  It  was  continued  during  seven 
days,  and  was  celebrated  alike  under  Moses  and  David, 
Solomon  and  Ezra,  and  in  the  time  of  our  Lord.  Its 
institution  is  mentioned  in  Lev.  23  :  33-43  ;  Hosea 
makes  its  enjoyment  a  token  of  Divine  favor  ;  Zecli- 
ariah  speaks  of  it  as  to  be  observed  even  by  nations 
hostile  to  Israel  (Hosea  12  :  9  ;  Zech.  14  :  16-19). 

Philo  says  ''  the  Hebrews  had  ten  festivals  (the 
number  of  completeness) :  (1),  a  feast  of  every  day  with 
prayer  and  thanksgiving  ;  (2),  the  Sabbath-festival  ; 
(3),  that  of  New  Moon  ;  (4),  the  Passover  ;  (5),  Feast 
of  First-fruits  ;  (6),  of  Unleavened  Bread  ;  (7),  the 
Seventh-day  of  the  Feast  of  Seven  Days  ;  (8),  Feast  of 
Trumpets  ;  (9),  the  Day  of  Solemn  Fast  ;  (10),  Feast 
of  Tabernacles"  (Bohn's  ed.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  265). 
Prophets  of  the  eighth  centur}^  refer  to  them  and  to 
the  books  of  the  Pentateuch  which  treat  of  them. 

Abraham  and  other  patriarchs  had  visions  and  reve- 
lations, and  the  latest  communications  accord  w^ith  the 
first  ;  those  to  prophets  of  Jerusalem  are  of  like  pur- 
pose with  those  to  prophets  of  Samaria  (Gen.  15  :  1  ; 
28  :  10-22  ;  37  :  5-10  ;  Job  33  :  14-16  ;  Isa.  1:1; 
Hosea  12  :  9, 10).  They  disclose  similar  conceptions  of 
deity  and  ideas  of  duty  in  the  shepherd  nomad  and 


BIBLE  AND  INSCRIPTIONS.  57 

tlie  sliepliercl  king.  Abraliam  possessed  ideas  and 
moral  precepts  in  advance  of  later  times.  Fancies 
yielded  to  maxims.  Life  in  the  tent  was  as  pure  and 
lofty  as  life  in  the  city,  and  its  memory  left  an  im- 
press on  all  after  ages.  The  early  domestic  standard 
moulded  the  subsequent  character  of  the  nation.  It 
was  God-instructed. 

Moreover,  the  Divine  name  was  incorporated  with 
local  and  proper  names,  as  in  Bethel  and  Bethuel, 
Ishmael  and  Ragucl,  Caleb  from  Calbel,  Isaac  from 
Isaakel,  Jacob  from  Jacobel.  The  name  of  the  son 
of  promise  meant  "  he  whom  God  smiles"  upon,  and 
who  was  the  friend  of  El.  Thus,  says  Renaa,  "  We 
may  fancy  Israel  as  being  a  sort  of  Geneva  in  the 
midst  of  varied  populations,  surrounded  by  Moab  and 
Edom,  Philistia  and  Phoenicia  ;  Puritans  begirt  with 
corruptionists  in  morals  and  theology"  ("  History  of 
Israel,"  p.  92).  The  covenant  name  Jahveh  was  used 
in  Assyria,  and  the  Meslia  inscription  gives  it  like  the 
Hebrew  as  J  h  v  h.  That  was  in  875  b.c.  Centuries 
previously  it  had  been  given  to  Moses  (Ex.  3  :  14). 
Earlier  still  it  was  probably  known  through  Abraham 
to  the  Egyptian  priests  as  ''  Nuk  Pu  Nuh,^''  or  "I 
am  that  I  am."  Very  significant  was  the  inscription 
on  the  temple  at  Sais,  which  Plutarch  rendered,  '^  I 
am  all  that  was,  and  is,  and  will  be."  In  Ra,  Jah, 
Jahu,  He  was  known  as  the  God  of  Israel  and  of  other 
nations,  already  blessed  by  the  chosen  man.  He 
founded  a  people  who  became  stronger  than  any  other 
in  moral  force  and  religious  fervor  ;  who  existed  when 
pyramids  and  temples  were  being  erected  whose  ruins 
we  study  to-day.  Old  Sargon  and  Rameses,  Shalman- 
"3* 


58  BELIOION  OF  ABRAHAM. 

eser  and  Nebuchadnezzar  concern  us  cliiefly  because 
they  represent  nationahties  which  mark  tlie  course  of 
human  development  in  the  ancient  world  and  throw 
light  upon  Israel.  Father  Orham,  the  reputed  founder 
and  king,  legislator  and  saint  of  Ur,  has  become  inter- 
woven w^ith  the  early  pages  of  history.  He  harmo- 
nizes with  the  character  of  Abraham,  benevolent  in 
aspect  and  seated  in  an  arm-chair,  speaking  words  of 
counsel  and  wisdom,  if  not  of  urgent  warning  against 
corruption  in  religion.  For  his  chief  title  to  the  ven- 
eration of  his  admirers  was  much  more  tiian  that  he 
substituted  the  sacrifice  of  a  ram  for  that  of  his  son. 
So  explicit  and  unique  are  the  statements  respecting 
him  that  it  is  necessary  to  regard  him  as  an  historical 
person  (Renan,  pp.  60-63).  Abraham,  indeed,  was 
divinely  chosen  and  taught.  It  was  God  speaking  in 
his  soul  that  lifted  him  out  of  those  polytheistic  sur- 
roundings in  Chaldea,  and  gave  him  the  lofty  covenant 
of  a  pure  faith  in  Canaan  ;  a  covenant  which  was  for 
him  and  his  descendants.  It  was  not  the  thought  of 
one  who  protested  against  the  errors  about  him,  but  it 
was  revealed  to  him  by  a  voice  from  heaven  ;  a  cove- 
nant was  made  and  ratified  between  him  and  the  Di- 
vine Speaker,  which  should  never  be  forgotten. 

Moreover,  good  angels  were  believed  to  be  often 
engaged  in  ministry  to  men.  If  there  were  one  thou- 
sand evil  spirits,  were  there  not  four  thousand  good 
spirits  who  sang  the  praises  and  did  the  errands  of  the 
Most  High  ?  Such  a  belief  is  evident  in  the  inscrip- 
tions and  in  the  Scriptures,  from  the  angels  of  Eden 
to  the  angel  who  shall  sound  the  last  trump.  They 
were  of   various  orders,   performing  v^arious    ofhces  ; 


BIBLE  AND  INSCRIPTIONS.  59 

angels  of  sacrifice  and  prayer,  who  placed  tlieir  incense 
on  tlie  celestial  altar  ;  angels  seen  in  iianiing  lire  ;  the 
Angel  of  the  Covenant,  who  appeared  to  Abraham  ; 
the  angels  who  delivered  Lot  from  the  doom  of  Sodom  ; 
who  appeared  now  to  Gideon  and  Manoah,  now  to 
Moses  and  David,  now  to  Elijah  and  Daniel,  now  to 
Zacharias  and  the  Virgin  Mary,  now  to  onr  Lord  and 
His  Apostles,  now  ministering  to  little  chihlren,  gaard- 
ing  the  open  tomb  of  Jesus,  ready  in  legions  to  do  His 
bidding,  or  to  speak  words  of  comfort  to  broken 
hearts.  The  angel  or  prince  of  Persia  was  of  a  differ- 
ent sort,  whom  Michael  helped  another  angel  to  with- 
stand (Dan.  10  :  13-21).  The  Hebrew  word  for  angel 
is  the  same  as  that  for  king,  malak  or  nielek,  acting 
as  an  agent,  messenger,  or  counsellor  for  another  ; 
while  sar^  the  word  for  prince,  is  found  incorporated 
w^ith  old  names  for  Deity,  as  Sar-ili,  ''  King  of  the 
gods,"  to  whom  Urukli,  one  of  the  earliest  Babylonian 
kings,  dedicated  a  temple  at  Zergul  ^  God  Enthroned 
in  Redemption,"  pp.  58-60).  Thus  the  angels  of 
heaven  became  gods  upon  earth,  and  nnder  various 
characters  were  adored  by  men. 

The  angel  Michael,  which  means  'Mike  God,"  is 
found  in  the  Babylonian  Marduk  or  Merodach,  one  of 
its  secondary  gods,  and  was  regarded  as  a  Saviour  by 
that  people,  who  would  raise  men  to  life  again  and 
become  their  judge.  A  similar  idea  prevailed  among 
early  Zoroastrians  and  travelled  to  India.  Thus, 
angelic  appearances.  Divine  voices  speaking  to  man, 
were  commonly  believed  in,  and  prepared  Abraham  to 
accept  God's  revelation  of  Himself  without  hesitancy. 
It  was  not  a  new  thought  or  experience,  but  was  duly 


60  RELIGION  OF  ABRAHAM. 

autheiiticated  to  the  patriarch,  and  never  developed 
into  polytheism  with  the  Hebrews,  however  thej  may 
have  added  those  ideas  of  Japhetli,  which  grew  out  of 
it  to  their  own.  Dent.  33  :  2  says  the  Lord  came  from 
the  ten  thousands  of  holy  ones.  Revised  Version. 
(Cf.  Job  5  :  1  ;  15  :  15.)'  The  "  Faerie  Queene," 
Book  XL,  says  ; 

"  That  blessed  angels  He  sends  to  and  fro, 

To  serve  to  wicked  man,  to  serve  His  wicked  foe  !" 

And  in  his  ^' Epithalamium,"  Spenser  thus  apostro- 
phizes them  : 

*'  Sing,  ye  sweet  angels.  Alleluia  sing, 

That  all  the  woods  may  answer,  and  your  echo  ring." 

Ages  before  the  angels  rolled  away  the  stone  from  the 
door  of  the  sepulchre,  in  ministry  to  the  Lord  and  to 
man.     It  crowned  their  studies  of  Redemption. 

Belief  in  evil  spirits,  who  for  rebellion  were  expelled 
from  heaven,  was  common  at  this  time  among  Sem- 
ites, Accadians,  and  Japhethites,  among  dwellers  at 
Ur,  at  Ilaran,  and  in  Canaan.  Witchcraft,  too,  wa-s 
then  believed  in  as  really  as  by  people  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  And  it  arose  from  that  early  belief  in  fallen 
spirits  from  heaven.  Hence,  dread  of  being  under 
their  spell,  of  being  possessed,  diseased,  and  injured 
by  them.  Hence,  prayers  for  deliverance  from  evil 
spirits,  and  the  hope  for  One  to  arise  who  would  crush 
tlieir  power.  Hence  Merodach  in  Babylon,  Horus  in 
Egypt,  Krishna  in  India,  was  the  conqueror  of  evil 
and  the  adumbration  of  our  Redeemer. 

The  cliosen  man  was  familiar  with  all  this  ;  with  ideas 
of  creation  and  of  Providence,  prayer  and  sacrifice, 


BIBLE  AND  INSCIUPTLONS.  Gl 

Sabbath-worsliip  and  Divine  iiistniction  ;  with  tlie  ex- 
istence of  good  and  of  evil  spirits.  The  new  truth  re- 
vealed to  him  was  that  of  Jehovah  entering  into  Cove- 
nant ivith  him^  and  appointing  circumcision  as  its  sac- 
ramental seah  It  was  a  covenant  and  personal  relation 
with  God,  which  lifted  him  far  above  others  of  his 
race.  What  chief  from  IS'oah  to  Moses  had  such  a 
privilege  ?  What  old  Greek  or  Roman  was  so  exalted  ? 
For  it  was  given  to  him  in  a  high  sense,  by  this  cove- 
nant relation,  "  to  repair  (as  Milton  says)  the  ruin  of 
our  first  parents  by  regaining  to  know  God  aright." 

W^hat  if  some  philosophers  by  deep  searchings  found 
out  the  necessity  of  a  God,  and  attributed  to  Ilim 
creation  and  oversight  ?  What  if  "Plato  and  Aristotle 
rose  to  the  thought  of  God  as  a  jealotis  God,- ^  so 
Martensen,  or  of  God  as  a  Father,  so  Origen  ?  What  if 
all  primitive  nations  recognized  and  worshipped  God, 
Syrians  in  Hamath,  Assyrians  in  Nineveh,  the  old 
Babylonians  and  Fgyptians,  Kenites  of  the  era  of  the 
Exodus,  as  the  One  Supreme,  the  Creator  and  Life- 
giver  ;  yet  it  was  7iot  as  the  cove7iant  Jahvehoi  Ah'a- 
hani,  Jacob,  and  Moses,  who  revealed  Himself  for  the 
purpose  of  providing  the  Saviour  of  mankind.  This 
exalted  Israel  above  all  other  nations,  gave  them  a 
peculiar  place  in  the  world,  and  makes  the  study  of 
their  religion  of  supreme  importance. 


iir. 


THE   PATRIAECIl  IN   PALESTINE:    PER- 
SONAL   INCIDENTS. 

In  the  twentieth  century  b.o.  Abraham  settled  in 
Palestine,  or  rather  sojourned  there,  with  hope  of  re- 
maining. He  had  brought  with  him  the  culture  and 
the  religion  outhned  in  Chapter  11.  He  had  no  writ- 
ten revelation^  except  what  he  himself  had  recorded 
of  the  Divine  utterances.  Belief  in  God  the  Creator 
enabled  him  to  believe  in  God  the  Kevealer,  who  had 
spoken  to  and  covenanted  with  him.  His  fathers  in 
Southern  Babylonia  had  served  other  gods  (Josh. 
2i  :  2).  A  century  passed,  a  thousand  miles  of  coun- 
try had  been  travelled,  but  this  could  effect  no  relig- 
ious change  in  him,  unless  enjoined  by  a  Divine  voice 
which  told  him  whom  and  how  he  was  to  worship  ; 
which  explained  why  the  man  who  had  departed  from 
Ur  must  accept  another  ritual  in  Canaan.  He  was  no 
Buddha  nor  Mahomet.  He  had  left  the  region  of  one 
set  of  polytheists,  and  was  now  dwelling  among  another 
set  equally  polytheistic.  Some  of  them,  indeed,  wor- 
shipped El-Eli un,  "  the  Strong  God,"  and  some  in 
his  more  southern  home  worshipped  Sar-ili,  '^  the 
King  of  the  Gods,"  which  worship  Jahveh  accepted 
as  to  Himself  ?     Urukh  had  built  a  temple  to  Him  at 


PERSONAL  INCIDENTS.  03 

Zerghul  ;  Sargon  built  another  to  Sin,  the  Moon-god, 
at  Ur,  and  to  the  Sun-god  at  Sippara,  which  were  ded- 
icated to  the  Supreme  God,  in  whom  those  kings  be- 
lieved ;  while  Melchizedelv  at  Salem  was  known  as 
the  priest  of  El-Eliun.  The  One  Supreme  God  of 
heaven  and  earth  now  revealed  Himself  to  Abraham 
by  His  sacred  and  everlasting  name,  for  a  saving  and 
world-wide  purpose. 

Settled  in  a  fertile  land,  no  one  of  Abraham's  prac- 
tical sense  would  leave  it  at  tlie  suggestion  of  a  com- 
mon dream,  or  the  uncertain  whisperings  of  the  night 
wind,  to  go  to  an  unknown  country.  No  mythical 
voice  or  nebulous  appearance  would  root  him  out  and 
send  him  off  among  strangers.  He  was  a  num  of 
property  and  of  large  practical  sense  ;  by  birth  and 
temperament  a  conservative,  and  his  belongings  re- 
quired careful  guarding.  The  voice  which  spoke  to 
him  at  Ur  spoke  again  at  Haran  after  the  death  of  his 
father  Terali,  in  such  explicit  terms  that  he  left  his 
kindred,  passed  through  Canaan  and  came  to  Sichem, 
or  Sychar,  unto  the  plain  or  oak  of  Moreh,  where  he 
builded  an  altar  unto  the  Lord,  who  appeared  unto 
him.  Mark  the  Divine  Name  here  used — Jehovah  or 
Jahveh.  Thence  he  removed  to  the  east  of  Bethel, 
builded  another  altar,  and  called  upon  Jahveh  (Gen. 
12  :  1-8).  In  these  eight  verses  Jahveh  occurs  six 
times.  All  admit  that  Abraham  was  a  Semite,  a 
strong  monotheist,  who  had  long  dwelt  among  poly- 
theists  ;  yet  how  account  for  this  building  of  altars  to 
Jahveh  and  worship  of  Him,  unless  he  was  assured 
that  he  was  doing  right  ?  This  Divine  epithet  was 
not  the   one   familiar  to   his  youth  ;  he  had  not  the 


64  ABRAHAM  IN  PALESTINE. 

guidance  of  a  written  standard  or  revelation  ;  if  a 
polytlieist,  he  could  nut  have  evolved  it  from  his  inner 
self  ;  the  narrative  is  clearly  ancient  and  credible,  so 
that  the  rational  explanation  of  Abraham's  conduct  on 
his  migration,  altar-building,  and  worship  of  Jahveh, 
is  that  he  was  thus  doing  the  behests  of  Deity,  who 
had  unmistakably  manifested  His  will  to  him,  and 
that  He  would  be  his  God  forever.  Thus  began  his 
authenticated  Bible. 

He  had  taken  this  new  departure,  not  as  an  adven- 
turer or  fortune-hunter,  but  in  obedience  to  what  he 
believed  to  be  the  voice  of  God,  and,  from  the  faith 
of  his  fathers  and  according  to  his  own  knowledge, 
was  justified  in  so  believing.  Mark  the  words,  ''  Unto 
thy  seed  will  I  give  this  land" — not  an  immediate  pos- 
session for  himself,  but  unto  his  seed  was  this  charter- 
right  given  (ver.  7).  Though  we  are  not  told  pre- 
cisely how  the  Divine  manifestation  occurred,  it  was 
by  no  means  an  impossible  conception  to  one  who  had 
heard  of  Jahveh  talking  with  Adam,  to  Cain  and 
Abel,  and  to  Noah,  being  acquainted  with  the  original 
Chaldean  legends.  The  twelve  centuries  perhaps 
which  had  passed  since  the  Deluge  made  its  traditions 
not  very  ancient  history  to  one  who  listed  in  the  full 
bloom  of  Accadian  poetry.  As  Noah  had  built  an  altar 
and  kings  had  erected  temples  to  El  and  Sar-ili,  it 
was  quite  in  order  for  Abraham  to  build  an  altar  in 
obedience  to  the  speaking  voice.  It  is  what  other 
chiefs  on  the  Jordan  or  the  Euphrates  would  have 
done  ;  what  Nimrod  and  Sargon  I.  actually  did.  In 
fact,  the  building  of  an  altar  to  Jahveh  became  habit- 
ual with  Abraham  in  every  new  place  where  he  made 


PERSONAL  INGIDENTS.  05 

his  home  ;  it  was  habitual  with  Jacob  and  hiter  de- 
scendants. At  every  important  step  of  their  career 
tliey  prepared  for  sacrifice  to  the  covenant  God  of 
their  fathers,  the  God  of  blessing  and  enlarg-ement, 
who  was  at  once  a  Power,  a  Promise,  and  a  Person, 
never  a  ''  confused  nebula"  to  them. 

Indeed,  when  Israel  had  no  appointed  liturgy,  their 
theology  was  clearly  expressed.  Pefore  Moses  and 
any  Hebrew  Scriptures  tlie  sacred  history  of  the  world 
was  known  to  them.  Whatever  may  come  of  Penta- 
teuchal  analysis  and  redactions  of  its  text,  the  calling 
of  the  chosen  man  and  God's  covenant  with  him  can- 
not be  exscinded.  To  Adam  was  one  revelation  of 
Deity,  to  Seth  perhaps  another,  to  Noah  a  third,  while 
to  Abraham  was  the  covenant  which  prepared  for  the 
unfolding  of  God's  plan  in  the  Redemption  of  the 
world  ;  it  was  a  Revelation  not  only  to  Hebrews  but 
to  all  mankind.  So  at  every  removal  of  his  tent  a 
new  altar,  now  at  Bethel,  now  at  Hebron,  now  at 
Beersheba,  was  l:>uilt,  and  sacrifice  offered  thereon,  in 
acknowledgment  of  duty  and  a  reminder  of  covenant. 
The  sojourn  was  never  too  short  for  a  prayer,  nor  the 
place  unlit  for  a  sacrifice.  In  Palestine,  the  altar  and 
its  sacrifice,  at  the  oak  of  Moreh  and  the  Well  of  the 
Oath,  certified  to  the  God  of  that  land  in  distinction 
from  all  others,  and  that  He  had  given  it  to  Abraham. 
It  was  in  a  sense  the  Divine  manifesto  to  the  people 
of  that  country  that  Jahveli  possessed  it,  and  that  He 
had  bestowed  its  title-deed  upon  Abraham  and  those 
who  worshipped  the  Lord.  This  was  the  idea  dis- 
closed at  every  altar  and  sacrifice  to  Jaliveh  in  Canaan. 
In  after  times  they  suggest  a  similar  thought.     The 


66  ABRAHAM  IiV  PALESTINE. 

many  sacred  places  and  altars  of  Israel  are  for  a  pur- 
pose, not  a  fantasy.  They  dot  the  whole  compass  of 
Hebrew  history  and  cannot  be  obliterated.  There 
God  meets  man  in  covenant. 

Luz -Bethel  was  the  place  of  sacred  vision  to  Jacob, 
where  he  saw  the  celestial  staircase  or  ladder  reachino^ 
from  earth  to  heaven,  with  the  angels  of  God  ascend- 
ing and  descending  on  it  ;  angels  of  whom  he  had 
heard  his  grandfather  speak,  when  narrating  the  build- 
ing of  an  altar  there.  Here  he  now  enters  into  cove- 
nant and  vows  a  vow  with  God,  that  if  He  will  pros- 
per him  in  his  way  and  restore  him  to  his  father's 
house  in  peace,  then  the  Lord  shall  be  his  God  ;  the 
stone  which  he  sets  up  shall  be  for  a  sacred  pillar,  and 
he  will  consecrate  a  tenth  of  all  his  gains  to  Divine 
service.  It  was  a  covenant  vvith  God  for  his  preser- 
vation and  restoration.  He  was  a  flying  man  endea- 
voring to  secure  the  after-possession  of  what  he  had  left, 
that  Israel  might  become  a  blessing  to  the  nations. 
Jacob  then  covenanted  for  more  than  he  understood. 
That  pillar  was  a  precious  memorial,  and  that  j)lace 
became  a  famous  sanctuary  in  Palestine.  The  God 
of  Bethel  was  Supreme  for  Jew  and  Gentile.  There 
Abraham  had  probably  sacrificed  a  lamb  when  he 
called  upon  Jahveh  ;  but  Jacob  had  only  oil  which  he 
carried  with  him  for  food,  and  of  that  he  pours  upon 
the  pillar  as  an  offering  to  God.  The  narrative  implies 
that  it  was  favorably  accepted  (Gen.  28  :  10-22  ;  35  : 
6-15).  Here  in  after  years  the  wanderer  returned  ; 
he  had  become  a  man  of  substance  ;  renewed  his  vow 
to  God  ;  received  enlargement  of  God's  promise,  the 
change  of  his  name  to  Israel,  and  heirship  of  the  land 


rERSONAL  INCIDENTS.  C7 

fi^iven  to  Abraham  and  Isaac  was  transferred  to  liiin- 
self  and  to  Jiis  wed.  Esan,  iHliinael,  and  other  kins- 
men had  no  share  or  title  in  it. 

Betliel  was  lield  in  great  veneration  by  the  TTel)rews 
as  tlieir  okiest  sanctuary,  given  to  them  by  the  God  of 
the  whole  earth  ;  the  place  of  renewed  covenant  with 
Jahveh  and  of  His  manifestations  to  their  fathers.  It 
can  no  more  be  exscinded  from  their  history  than  its 
altar  or  pillar  memorial  can  be  etherialized  by  modern 
fancies.  Renan  suggests  that  an  old  Canaanite  sanc- 
tuary was  there,  which  was  a  graduated  pyrann'd  like 
an  Assyrian  temple  (p.  210).  There,  too,  Jeroboam 
set  np  his  calf-worship,  which  long  continued  in  oppo- 
sition to  Jerusalem,  till  the  Assyrians  carried  Israel 
into  captivity.  But  that  could  not  change  its  original 
character,  nor  prove  that  its  Jahveh- worship  did  not 
date  from  the  remotest  antiquity.  There  Jacob  had 
his  visions  of  God,  and  set  up  his  pillar-altar  in  re- 
membrance of  them.  There  and  at  Shechem  Abra- 
ham entered  into  covenant  with  Jahveh  for  his  poster- 
ity and  for  the  nations  that  would  accept  it  ;  a  cove- 
nant which  Ruth,  the  Moabitess,  accepted  when  she 
adopted  the  God  of  Israel  as  her  God  (Ruth  1  :  10). 
Were  it  possible  for  criticism  to  redact  the  entire  Pen- 
tateuch to  "  the  covenant  there  made  with  Abraham 
and  renewed  there  with  Jacob,  and  again  with  Moses 
at  Sinai,"  it  would  endure  as  long  as  the  stones  of 
Luz  ;  for  there  Jahveh  demonstrated  His  faithfulness. 
He  was  at  once  the  God  of  all  Palestine  and  of  man- 
kind, thus  seeking  to  save  them. 

Yet  in  Canaan  and  out  of  it,  man  himself  must  be 
faithful  to  his  part  of  the  covenant  or  be  rejected  by 


68  ABRAHAM  IH  PALESTINE. 

his  Creator.  The  most  ancient  sanctuary  cannot  save 
him  ;  desecrated  Bethel  became  Beth-aven,  the  house 
of  nothingness,  or  idols,  as  the  prophet  Hosea  calls  it  ; 
while  Amos  warns  the  people  ''not  to  seek  Bethel, 
nor  enter  Gilgal,  nor  pass  on  to  Beersheba  ;  for  the 
one  shall  be  captured,  and  the  other  come  to  nought" 
(Amos  5:5;  Hosea  4  :  15  ;  9  :  15  ;  10  :  5,  8).  It 
is  not  even  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament,  and  is 
now  a  mean  village  with  few  inhabitants.  Ishmaelite 
Arabians  were  more  loyal  to  the  God  of  their  illus- 
trious progenitor,  for  they  long  continued  to  offer  the 
firstlings  of  their  flock  and  of  camels  to  Plim  who  had 
made  them  a  nation  in  the  land  of  their  choice. 

The  Shechem  of  Abraham  lay  about  six  miles  south- 
east of  the  Samaria  of  Omri,  between  Mounts  Ebal 
and  Gerizim,  on  the  way  from  Galilee  to  Jerusalem. 
It  was  the  place  of  the  patriarch's  first  stay  in  Canaan, 
and  where  he  built  the  first  altar  to  Jahveh  in  Pales- 
tine. It  was  the  place  where  Jacob,  on  his  return 
from  Padan-aram,  erected  an  altar  on  the  land  which 
he  bought  of  the  Shechemites,  and  which  he  called 
El-Elohe-Israel  ;  not  only  the  God  of  Abraham  as 
heretofore,  but  since  the  vision  at  Peniel  and  his 
change  of  name  to  Israel,  Jahveh  was  to  be  known  as 
his  God  also  and  of  his  sons,  God  the  God  of  Israel 
(Gen.  33  :  18-20).  It  was  the  place  to  which  Joshua 
brought  delivered  Israelites,  with  the  women  and 
children,  and  the  strangers  that  were  among  them,  to 
whom  was  rehearsed  all  the  law  as  commanded  by 
Moses,  and  there  "  upon  an  altar  of  whole  stones  they 
offered  burnt-offerings  unto  Jahveh,  and  sacrificed 
peace-offerings    (Josh.    8  :   30-35).       And   he    w^rote 


PERSONAL  INCIDENTS.  69 

tlicre  upon  the  stones  a  copy  of  the  Law  of  Moses  in 
the  presence  of  Israel  and  of  the  strangers  among 
them  ;  those  stran^rcrs  were  not  Israehtes,  but  were 
now  "  natnrahzed"  and  incorporated  with  the  tribes. 
For  the  local  God  was  also  the  God  of  nations.  Ob- 
serve that  some  at  least  in  Israel  could  tlien  read  and 
Avrite  and  engrave  in  stone  ;  a  copy  of  the  Law  was 
written  or  graven'  in  stone  ;  written  at  that  time  and 
published  to  Israel  for  preservation.  It  is  a  fact  of 
history  of  a  character  not  easily  interpolated,  and  it 
was  received  by  all  later  Hebrews. 

It  w^as  in  the  vale  of  Shechem,  where  Jacob  dug  that 
well  whicli  was  used  by  many  generations,  and  which 
was  rendered  forever  famous  by  the  memorable  dis- 
course of  our  Lord  with  the  Samaritan  woman  : 
"  True  worshippers  of  the  Father  must  worship  Him 
in  spirit  and  in  truth  ;  not  in  Samaria  alone,  nor  yet 
at  Jerusalem  ;  for  such  the  Father  seeketh  to  be  His 
worshippers"  (John  4  :  21-24).  As  the  springtide 
streams  fertihzed  the  vale  of  Shechem,  so  the  strangers 
among  Israel  in  the  days  of  Joshua  and  believing  Sa- 
maritans in  the  days  of  our  Lord  were  alike  blessed  by 
the  Law  of  the  Covenant  and  the  grace  of  the  Gospel. 
There,  too,  all  Israel  were  assembled  for  sacrifice,  and 
to  hear  the  farewell  address  of  Joshua,  who,  like 
Washington,  gave  them  his  last  advice.  He  recounted 
their  early  history,  their  deliverance  from  Egypt, 
from  the  perils  of  the  wilderness,  and  their  peaceful 
settlement  in  Canaan — but  not  by  their  own  sword, 
nor  their  own  bow.  Then  he  told  them  how  they 
might  continue  to  enjoy  their  present  blessings — viz., 
by  serving  Jehovah  in  sincerity  and  truth  ;  by  loyalty 


70  ABRAHAM  IN  PALESTINE. 

to  tlie  Divine  covenant.  This  tliej  renewed  and  rati- 
tied  by  pnblic  acclamation,  and  by  setting  up  a  me- 
morial of  it  in  Sliechem.  Joshua  wrote  the  words 
thereof  in  the  book  of  tlie  Law  of  God,  and  set  up  a 
great  stone  there  under  an  oak  that  was  by  the  sanc- 
tuary (Josh.  24  :  1-27).  Dean  Stanley  says  :  ''  This 
oak  remained  for  many  centuries  the  object  of  national 
reverence,  and  the  sanctity  of  the  place  has  continued 
to  this  day."  AVe  cannot  evade  the  force  of  such 
ancient  memorials,  testifying  at  once  of  God  and  His 
covenant  with  Abraham  and  Israel,  and  of  the  pub- 
lic acceptance  of  it  by  the  people  in  solemn  as- 
sembly. 

Moreover,  the  covenant  privilege  was  available  to 
all  who  would  accept  and  keep  it,  as  witness  the 
strangers  then  in  Israel.  It  is  also  ilhistrated  in  the 
case  of  Justin  Martyr,  who  was  born  at  Sliechem,  now 
Nablus,  of  Greek  parents,  early  in  our  second  century. 
Israel  had  failed  in  duty  to  God  ;  the  temple  and  holy 
places  were  defiled  and  possessed  by  strangers  ;  among 
whom  were  Justin's  parents.  He  was  born  and  edu- 
cated a  pagan  ;  was  in  the  pursuit  of  truth  converted 
to  Christianity ;  but  he  retained  his  philosopher's  cloak, 
diligently  studied  the  holy  Scriptures,  wrote  able  de- 
fences of  Christianity,  and  sealed  his  testimony  to  its 
truth  by  suffering  martyrdom.  It  was  Japlieth  super- 
seding Jacol)  in  spiritual  privileges. 

Probably  the  first  Bible  parable  was  spoken  at  old 
Sliechem— the  trees  would  appoint  a  king  over  them  ; 
but  tliey  sought  in  vain  among  the  olives,  and  the  figs, 
and  the  vines,  for  neither  would  leave  its  fatness,  its 
sweetness,  nor  its  cheering  juice.     Then  they  besought 


PERSONAL  INCIDENTS.  71 

the  bramble  to  reig'ii  over  tliem.  And  tlie  l)raiiil)lo 
deinaiKled  of  the  trees  instant  submission  and  obedi- 
ence nnder  pain  of  destruction.  Thus  Jotham  fore- 
tohl  tlie  ruin  of  tliose  who  sought  Abimelech  to  be 
their  king  ;  he  at  first  reigned  well,  then  caused  the 
death  of  many,  till  a  wonian  broke  his  skull  (his  brain- 
pan, so  Coverdale)  with  a  piece  of  her  millstone  with 
which  she  ground  her  morning  meal  (Judges  9  :  7-53). 

If  Abimelech  could  reprove  both  Abraham  and 
Isaac  for  duplicity  through  fear  of  losing  their  wives, 
and  if  Jacob  overreached  his  brother  Esau,  yet  their 
standard  of  morality  in  general  w^as  high  for  those 
times,  of  which  the  unfortunate  incident  in  the  matter 
of  Dinah  at  Shechem  is  a  striking  illustration.  The 
conduct  of  Jacob  at  that  juncture  disclosed  his  pru- 
dence and  his  fair  dealing,  while  the  pride  and  passion 
of  Simeon  and  Levi  incited  them  to  avenge  the  wrong 
done  to  their  only  sister,  a  very  queen  to  them.  If  it 
suggests  little  enthusiasm  for  Shechemites,  it  shows 
a  high  regard  for  virtue  and  chastity.  The  brothers 
felt  that  nothing  could  excuse  the  treatment  by  Shech- 
em of  a  noble  lady  who  was  visiting  the  daughters  of 
the  place,  and  however  clear  or  cloudy  his  conduct 
might  appear  to  others,  to  them  it  was  an  awful  breach 
of  good  neighborhood,  which  not  even  a  stipulated 
truce  and  conformity  to  their  religious  ritual  should 
condone.     Gen.  34: :  20-25  suggest  a  treaty. 

Their  grandfather  had  earnestly  pleaded  for  sinners, 
and  Moses  enacted  how  certain  offences  might  be 
atoned,  but  these  brothers  decided  the  case  before 
them,  in  which  their  deepest  feelings  were  enlisted. 
They  visited  upon  the  offender  the  penalty  of  death. 


TZ  ABRAHAM  IN  PALESTINE. 

and  executed  it  under  aggravated  circumstances.  It 
was  probable  that  such  otiences  against  chastity  would 
not  often  occur  ;  with  such  brothers  as  fathers  and 
husbands  there  was  ample  security  for  women.  But 
among  Hebrews  generally  the  regard  for  human  life 
was  more  sacred  than  among  most  nations.  They  are 
not  known  to  have  practised  infanticide,  when  child 
victims  in  sacrifice  were  frequent  among  their  neigh- 
bors. The  exposal  of  infants  was  common  in  Sparta, 
and  was  approved  even  by  Plato  in  his  ideal  Repub- 
lic ;  it  was  practised  more  or  less  extensively  from 
Home  to  China.  Tlie  Greek  Helen  and  the  captive 
Briseis  of  Troy,  taken  from  Achilles  by  Agamemnon, 
illustrate  for  Aryans  the  practice  of  Philistines  with 
Samson.  His  wedding  guests  even  sought  to  w^in  the 
prize  for  solving  his  riddle  by  tJireatening  to  hum  down 
the  house  of  his  bride  and  father-in-law,  if  she  did  not 
persuade  her  husband  to  tell  the  riddle  !  In  honor 
and  fairness  they  had  lost  by  being  unable  of  them- 
selves to  explain  it  ;  yet  so  low  was  their  ethical  stand- 
ard that  they  sought  to  find  the  secret  by  ^'  ploughing 
with  his  heifer,"  and  to  threaten  personal  vengeance 
upon  the  bride  if  she  did  not  discover  to  them  the  de- 
sired answer.  Moreover,  wdiile  Samson  was  absent  in 
slaying  the  thirty  Philistines  for  the  garments  he 
wanted  to  pay  his  forfeit,  his  bride  was  given  to  the 
chief  groomsman  !  Here  is  free  love  and  free  mar- 
riage which  led  to  a  double  tragedy  ;  the  perfidious 
bride  and  her  father  were  burned  alive  by  her  people 
for  the  revenges  of  Samson,  and  he  avenged  himself 
by  a  huge  slaughter  of  them.  Compare  Achilles  wit- 
nessing the  defeat  of  the  Greeks,  as  sung  by  Homer, 


PERSONAL  INCIDENTS.  73 

because    of    the    seizure    of    his    Briscis    ("Iliad," 
Book  L), 

"  Samson,"  ns  trulj'  us  Achilles,  "  quitted  himself  like  Samson, 
And  heroically  finished  a  life  heroic." 

Now  if  conscience  teacliing  righteousness  is  hered- 
itar}^  or  the  development  of  nature,  how  came  the 
Hebrews,  in  "  an  outlandish  corner  of  the  world,"  to 
excel  even  the  so-called  classic  nations  ?  Aryan  Plato 
would  deprive  young  children  of  parental  care,  and 
his  ideas  of  women  and  marriage  fall  far  below  the 
standard  of  Jacob's  sons  twelve  hundred  years  before 
his  era.  They  would  hazard  the  prospect  of  trade, 
comity,  life  itself,  in  a  land  wherein  they  were  but 
sojourners,  rather  than  condone  the  wrong  done  to 
Sister  Dinah.  Comparing  the  morality  of  these 
brothers  in  that  far-off  age  with  the  morality  of  en- 
lightened Komans  under  the  Empire,  we  may  call 
that  of  the  brothers  very  much  superior.  True,  they 
gave  vent  to  an  outburst  of  righteous  indignation  and 
cruel  punishment  of  Hamor,  but  it  was  evoked  by  a 
dishonor  to  their  sister,  which  was  oppugnant  to  their 
every  sense  of  brotherhood  and  of  manhood.  The 
motives  which  protnpted  that  punishment  of  an  un- 
pardonable wrong  cannot  be  condenmed.  But  in  the 
treatment  of  slaves  by  Roman  masters,  what  do  we 
see  ?  This — viz.  :  If  a  slave  poured  a  little  too  much 
water  in  the  wine  at  dinner,  his  arm  would  be  broken 
as  a  punishment.  If  he  let  fall  a  goblet,  he  would  be 
thrown  into  the  fish-pond  as  food  for  its  rapacious  lam- 
preys. Indeed,  did  not  senators  and  emperors  glut 
themselves  in  the  blood  of  the  shiin,  so  that  it  ran  in 
4 


74  ABRAHAM  IN  PALESTINE. 

the  streets  almost  up  to  the  liorses'  bridles  !  Who 
proscribed  and  killed  the  famous  Cicero  ?  Then,  what 
shall  we  say  of  those  Roman  ladies  who  much  enjoyed 
the  sight  of  gladiators  slaughtering  one  another  ;  who 
could  not  look  at  the  goddess  of  chastity  without  a 
blush  for  their  own  impurities  !  No,  the  passage  of 
those  eighteen  centuries  developed  little  improvement 
in  the  morals  of  mankind,  and  the  human  conscience 
was  no  safer  guide  to  the  Emperor  Augustus  than  to 
Simeon  and  Levi.  Illustrations  and  proofs  of  this  state- 
ment may  be  found  in  abundance  in  Juvenal,  in  Sen- 
eca, in  Suetonius,  in  Tacitus,  etc.  For  misplacement 
of  a  brooch  on  a  lady's  dress,  or  ill-arrangement  of  her 
hair,  the  enraged  matron  would  order  the  offending 
slave  to  be  lashed,  or  perhaps  crucified  !  This  cer- 
tainly equalled  the  treatment  of  the  young  Joseph  by 
liis  half-brothers.  His  dreams  had  offended  them,  and 
the  favoritism  of  their  father  aggravated  the  offence. 
Hence  they  plotted  against  him  and  sold  him  into 
Egypt.  "  They  saw  the  anguish  of  his  soul  when  he 
besought  them,  yet  they  would  not  hear."  But  when 
they  stood  before  him  as  the  viceroy  of  Pharaoh,  their 
conscience  smote  them  for  the  wrong  they  had  done 
him,  and  therefore  that  evil  was  come  upon  them 
(Gen.  42  :  21-24).  We  have  no  record  that  the  cruel- 
ties practised  by  later  Romans  caused  them  any  com- 
punctions of  conscience.  So  whose  ideas  of  God  were 
the  more  nebulous,  and  whose  rule  of  conduct  was  the 
more  confused  ?  What  evidence  have  we  that  the 
Beni-Israel  had  but  mythical  notions  of  Providence  ? 
Nay,  down  to  their  enslavement  in  Egypt,  God  to 
them  was  the  Powerful  One,  the  Ruler  and  Overruler, 


PERSONAL  INCIDENTS.  <5 

the  Avcn^-er  and  l]eneFiictor  of  men.  IIo  was  to  he 
ohej^ed,  trusted,  cand  loved.  lie  was  their  Teaclier 
and  Guide,  now  of  Ahrahani  and  Ii?aac,  now  of  Jacoh 
and  floseph,  througli  the  vicissitudes  of  hfe  and  on  the 
bed  of  death. 

The  details  of  the  purcliase  of  that  burial-field  from 
the  sons  of  Heth,  its  boundaries,  and  the  weighing  of 
a  precise  sum  of  money  for  it,  possibly  also  the  making 
of  a  deed  of  transfer,  seem  to  suggest  that  Abraham, 
with  others  concerned,  understood  reading  and  writ- 
ing. He  may  easily  have  learned  this  at  Ur,  which 
was  a  literary  as  well  as  religious  centre,  or  in  Egypt, 
where  even  boys  were  then  taught  to  read  and  write, 
which  was  in  fact  the  way  for  them  to  rise  to  honor 
and  position.  The  probability  is  that  the  chosen  man 
had  been  thus  instructed  ;  that  he  could  record  the 
Divine  communications  made  him,  and  the  important 
transactions  touching  a  large  household,  which  had  three 
hundred  to  four  hundred  trained  servants  fit  to  bear 
arms.  His  great-grandson  Judah,  under  less  favorable 
conditions,  wore  a  signet  ring  with  certain  letters 
graven  upon  it.  And  the  necessities  of  a  growing 
tribe  called  for  various  skill  and  handicraft.  They 
had  teachers  among  them  as  well  as  shepherds.  Early 
calls  to  the  shop  and  the  factor}^  did  not  prevent  the 
3^oung  Hebrew  from  gaining  a  fair  education  for  those 
days.  The  long  hours  of  a  long  summer  favored 
study  and  converse.  Something  there  surely  was 
about  their  methods  which  enabled  them  to  "occupy 
the  foremost  place  in  the  In'story  of  humanity."  They 
were  fathers  in  religion,  in  domestic  culture,  in  lofty 
manhood. 


76  ABRAHAM  IN  PALESTINE. 

In  the  departing  benediction  of  Israel  we  see  the 
clearest  conception  of  Deity — "  God,  before  whom 
mj  fathers  Abraham  and  Isaac  did  walk,  the  God  who 
fed  me  all  mj  life  long  nnto  this  day,  the  Angel  who 
redeemed  me  from  all  evil,  bless  the  lads  !"  And  to 
Joseph  he  said,  "  The  God  of  thy  father  shall  help 
thee,  and  tlie  Almighty  shall  bless  thee  with  blessings 
of  heaven  above,  blessings  of  the  deep  that  lieth  un- 
der, blessings  oifood  and  of  hirth  .  .  .  these  shall  be 
abmidant  upon  Joseph  who  was  separated  from  his 
brethren  (Gen.  48  :  15,  16  ;  49  :  25,  26).  Never 
have  the  power,  the  providence,  the  faithfulness  of 
God  been  more  emphatically  expressed  as  the  belief  of 
a  dying  man.  Compare  it  with  the  words  of  Socrates 
before  drinking  the  fatal  cup.  He  had  taught  truly, 
indeed,  that  the  soul  of  man  partakes  of  the  Divine  ; 
that  he  believed  there  are  gods,  in  a  far  higher  sense 
than  his  accusers  believed,  and  to  God  he  committed 
his  cause.  He  w^ould  follow  the  intimations  of  the 
Divine  wnll  ;  for  it  certainly  appeared  that  his  soul 
was  immortal,  that  arrayed  in  her  proper  jewels,  tem- 
perance, justice,  courage,  nobility,  and  truth,  she  would 
dwell  forever  in  the  glorious  mansions  reserved  for  the 
elect.  ''  Crito" — and  these  were  the  philosopher's  last 
words — "  I  owe  a  cock  to  Asclepius  ;  will  you  remem- 
ber to  pay  the  dc])t  ?''  We  may  call  Socrates  a 
j)rophet  and  mart^^r  of  truth,  who  did  much  to  correct 
false  notions  about  the  gods  of  Olympus,  and  to  lead 
his  countrymen  to  right  ideas  of  the  Divine  character, 
yet  he  fell  into  the  popular  superstition  by  asking  for 
a  cock  to  be  sacrificed  to  the  god  of  health.  It  marks 
the   difference   between   the   theology  of   Jacob  and 


PERSONAL  INCIDENTS.  77 

Japlietli.  Socrates  and  Plato  would  save  men  by 
knowledge  and  virtue,  truth  and  nobility,  yet  allowed 
them  a  community  of  women,  so  that  the  father  did 
not  know  his  own  child,  and  children  should  be 
brought  up  in  common  as  wards  of  the  State.  Where, 
then,  is  the  conscious  nobility  of  man  ?  Many,  indeed, 
practised  better  than  they  taught,  for  they  also  taught 
that  virtue  comes  by  a  gift  of  Heaven  to  those  who 
possess  it.     See  this  in  Plato's  '^  Meno." 

Such  being  the  moral  theology  of  tliose  limes,  is  it 
anything  better  than  poetical  rhapsody  to  sing  the 
praises  of  Greeks  as  being  superior  to  Hebrews,  in  all 
that  makes  for  the  nobilit}^  of  manhood  ?  Nay,  is  not 
the  reverse  of  this  the  fact  ?  Do  we  not  find  the  lofti- 
est nobility  of  character,  the  highest  truth  and  knowl- 
edge, the  brav^est  courage,  the  most  reasonable  temper- 
ance, the  most  righteous  justice,  and  the  sweetest  illus- 
trations of  domestic  life  among  the  Hebrews  in  all  the 
two  thousand  years  b.c.  of  any  nation  under  heaven  ? 
True,  they  were  not  all  of  such  exalted  natures,  and 
they  attained  to  only  a  low  measure  of  artistic  and 
scientific  culture.  But  compare  the  three  Hebrew 
patriarchs,  Moses  and  the  prophets  with  those  who 
originated  or  moulded  other  nations  ;  with  Menes  and 
Mahomet,  Zoroaster  and  Lycurgus,  Romulus  and 
Numa,  Buddha  and  Confucius  ;  or  take  the  whole  col- 
lection in  "Plutarch's  Lives,"  and  say  wherein  any 
Hebrew  fell  short  in  duty,  patriotism,  and  noblest  man- 
hood as  compared  with  persons  in  a  similar  position  in 
those  nationalities  ?  In  legislation  and  leadership,  in 
reformatory  measures,  in  martial  and  moral  heroism 
Jacob  has  ever  been  the  peer  of  Japheth.     Abraham, 


78  ABRAHAM  IN  PALESTINE, 

Moses,  and  Samuel  were  men  of  robust  character, 
physically  and  mentally  cajjable,  activ^e,  and  intelli- 
gent, with  no  mythical  uncertainty  or  philosophical 
absurdity  about  them,  and  altogether  befitted  the  dig- 
nity of  their  position.  No  names  of  founders  read  in 
the  brick  inscriptions  have  more  reliable  evidence  of 
their  personality  and  work.  What,  indeed,  do  we 
really  know  of  Nimrod  ?  Of  Chedorlaomer,  ""  the 
Ravager  of  the  West,"  we  are  assured  that  Abraham 
cut  short  his  career,  so  that  he  drops  out  of  the  page 
of  history.  Even  those  who  were  semi -deified  at  an 
early  day  less  impressed  their  age  than  the  victor  of 
Dan  and  Ilobah  (Gen.  14).  ISTor  does  primitive  his- 
tory give  us  a  more  unicjue  character  and  personality 
than  his.  Witness  his  intercession  for  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah.  Other  men  would  have  furthered  their 
destruction,  in  order  the  sooner  to  possess  their  lands  ; 
but  Abraham,  who  had  been  promised  those  lands, 
prayed  for  the  preservation  of  the  men  who  occupied 
them.  Instead  of  portraying  their  iniquity  in  dark 
colors,  he  set  an  eternal  example  of  humanity  and 
beneficence.  Strong  in  his  faith  that  God  would  fulfil 
His  promise  to  him,  he  yet  reminds  Jahveh  that  the 
Judge  of  all  the  earth  will  do  right,  which  was  an  indi- 
rect way  of  pleading  for  mercy.  The  friend  of  God 
was  also  the  friend  of  man.  Where  others  were  con- 
cerned he  ever  showed  generosity,  conscience,  upright- 
ness, the  true  nobility  of  manhood.  Witness  his  deal- 
ing with  Lot  wlien  he  chose  the  rich  valley  of  the 
Jordan,  and  then  rescued  him  from  the  hands  of 
Chedorlaomer,  though  not  having  a  quarter  as  many 
men  as  the  enemy.     The  brilliant  generalship  which 


PERSONAL  INCIDENTS.  79 

accoinplislied  the  defeat  of  the  allied  invaders  was  fol- 
lowed by  refusal  to  take  even  a  tent  thread  or  a  sandal - 
strap  for  his  pains  and  risk.  Consider  his  hospitality 
to  stranger-guests  ;  his  purchase  of  the  field  and  cave 
of  Machpelah  as  a  family  burying-ground,  paying  for 
it  a  liberal  price,  though  the  whole  country  had  been 
given  him  by  Heaven's  deed  of  transfer  ;  thus  setting 
an  example  to  our  William  Penn  in  his  dealings  with 
the  Indians.  Witness  his  grief  at  Sarah's  treatment 
of  Ilagar  and  Ishmael,  and  how  he  atoned  for  the  con- 
duct of  the  proud  mother  of  Isaac.  Read  his  cove- 
nant of  fealty  and  friendship  with  Abimelech  at  Beer- 
sheba,  that  ancient  '*  well  of  the  oath,"  and  now  called 
the  "  well  of  the  lion."  Witness  his  provision  for  the 
members  of  his  family  before  sending  them  away  from 
the  inheritance  of  Isaac  ;  thus  executing  and  adminis- 
terino'  durino^  his  own  lifetime  a  will  which  niio^ht 
otherwise  have  caused  much  discord  after  his  death. 
These  are  illustrations  of  an  upright  and  roundly  de- 
veloped character,  the  parental  part  so  natural  and 
touching  that  both  Ishmael  and  Isaac  united  in  doing 
honor  at  his  burial  in  the  purchased  field  of  Ephron 
the  Ilittite  (Gen.  25  :  9).  For  it  was  the  character 
of  the  deceased  more  than  the  custom  of  the  times 
which  then  brought  together  those  half-brothers.  And 
modern  Arabs,  descendants  of  the  elder  son,  still  cher- 
ish and  revere  the  memory  of  Abraham,  while  his 
tomb  at  Hebron  is  carefully  guarded  by  the  Turk. 
Not  for  many  centuries,  till  in  1863  the  Prince  of 
Wales  visited  the  Holy  Land,  was  a  Christian  per- 
mitted to  enter  that  sacred  enclosure.  And  now  fifteen 
thousand  Mahomedans  dwell  near  it. 


80  ABRAHAM  IN  PALESTINE. 

This  chapter  may  properly  coneliule  with  a  remark 
touching  the  purpose  to  be  seen  in  testing  the  faith 
and  character  of  the  Patriarch  in  the  call  to  sacrifice 
Isaac.  Every  father  will  admit  that  it  was  a  terrible 
trial  of  faith  and  character.  Hopes  long  deferred  had 
been  just  now  realized,  and  these  were  to  be  blasted  ! 
the  father  being  then  one  hundred  and  fifteen  to  one 
hundred  and  twenty  years  old.  He  had  experienced 
many  providences  in  the  course  of  his  long  life,  but 
none  like  this,  none  which  prepared  for  it.  I  venture 
to  say  that  Abraham  of  his  own  volition  would  not 
have  proposed  that  ordeal.  It  was  not  in  his  heart  to 
sacrifice  his  son  of  promise.  Everywhere  before  this 
possible  tragedy  we  have  found  him  a  life-saving 
man,  a  grand  intercessor,  even  a  little  double  in  his 
protecting  efforts.  It  was  not  in  the  nature  of  things 
that  his  character  should  have  become  suddenly  in- 
verted and  changed.  No  matter  what  sacrificial  cus- 
toms may  have  prevailed  in  old  Ur  of  the  Chaldees, 
which  he  had  long  left,  or  in  Canaan  where  he  dwelt 
the  internal  evidence  of  the  narrative  does  not  admit 
the  thought  that  Abraham  of  his  own  volition  pro- 
posed to  sacrifice  his  son  Isaac.  Whatever  may  have 
been  done  in  Egypt,  we  have  no  historic  examples  of 
such  sacrifices  in  Palestine  in  the  nineteenth  century 
B.C.  2  Kings  3  :  27  is  authority  that  Mesha,  King  of 
Moab,  sacrificed  his  son  and  the  heir  to  his  throne  ; 
but  that  was  a  thousand  years  after  the  trial  of  Abra- 
ham, when  human  victims  were  offered  by  Carthagin- 
ians and  legendary  Greeks.  So  this  trial  of  Abraham 
was  a  method  of  indicating  Heaven^ s  lyvohibition  of 
offering  human  victims  in  sacrifice,  and   the  manifesto 


PERSONAL  INCIDENTS.  81 

was  spread  abroad.  Yery  significant  is  it  tliat  the 
Angel  of  Jeliov^ali  called  a  second  time  out  of  heaven, 
''  Abraham,  Abraham  !"  and  repeated  the  injunction 
to  withhold  his  son  Isaac  from  sacrifice.  Jlis  seed 
should  possess  the  gate  of  his  enemies,  and  be  a  blessing 
to  all  nations  (Gen.  22  :  11,  12,  15-18).  The  provided 
ram,  caught  in  a  thicket  by  his  horns,  emphasizes  that 
human  beings  were  not,  while  certain  animals  were, 
acceptable  sacrifices  to  the  Lord. 
4* 


IV. 

ISEAEL  IN  EGYPT  ;   AT  SINAI  ;   THE  LAW. 

Eecent  discoveries  show  pretty  clearly  that  the 
Israelites  were  in  Egypt  for  several  hundred  years. 
Abraham  himself  was  there  for  a  brief  period.  Joseph 
went  there  as  a  slave,  and  during  a  famine  which  pre- 
vailed was  gladdened  to  find  his  lost  brethren  and  to 
hear  tidings  of  his  father,  whom  he  had  not  seen  for 
many  years.  This  led  to  the  removal  thither  of  all 
his  kindred,  and  they  may  have  been  among  those 
who  sustained  Apepi  in  his  efforts  to  establish  mono- 
theism. The  defeat  of  that  monarch  by  the  King  of 
Thebes  accounts  for  the  Bible  phrase  ''till  another 
king  arose  who  knew  not  eloseph."  He  probably  was 
Ka-Sekenen,  or  his  successor,  who  drove  out  the 
Ilyksos  dynasty  and  reseated  that  of  Thebes,  according 
to  Sayce  and  Mariette  in  1703  b.c. 

Whoever  those  Hyksos  were,  llittites,  Plia3nicians, 
or  Arabians,  they  appear  to  have  been  friendly  to  He- 
brews flying  from  a  widespread  famine  ;  supplied 
their  wants,  and  gave  them  suitable  lands  for  pastur- 
ing their  flocks.  Herdsmen  ranked  low  in  Egyptian 
caste  and  estimation.  If  those  Hebrew  shepherds 
were  also  the  friends  of  the  hated  Hyksos,  they  would 
be  regarded  with  deeper  detestation.  Add  the  fact 
of  their  being  monotheists  who  would  not  adopt  the 


ISRAEL   IN  EGYPT.  83 

Tliebaii  polytlieism,  and  we  may  see  liow  unfavorable 
became  the  position  of  Israelites  in  Egypt  under  the 
eighteenth  dynasty. 

There  appears  no  sufficient  reason  for  supposing  the 
Hebrew  shepherds  migrated  to  the  Delta  in  dilTerent 
bands  and  at  different  intervals  ;  while  the  govern- 
mental state  of  affairs  certainly  accords  with  their 
going  down  to  Egypt  during  the  Ilyksos  supremacy, 
and  then  being  compelled  by  Theban  lords  to  do  ser- 
vile labor  on  large  private  estates  and  on  the  public 
works.  The  circumstances  all  fit  in  with  the  Bible 
account  of  the  descent  to  and  humiliation  in  Egypt. 
At  first  the  Beni-Israel  were  quite  contented  in  that 
land  of  good  pasture  for  their  flocks,  "  with  the  bread 
and  onions  they  ate,"  and  with  the  position  accorded 
to  them.  But  when  their  religion  came  to  be  under- 
stood as  023pugnant  to  that  of  their  masters,  and  many 
sharp  angles  of  tribal  differences  presented  as  many 
disagreeable  resemblances  to  the  hated  Hyksos  wrho 
were  but  recently  expelled,  then  Israel  felt  the  weight 
of  the  yoke  of  the  oppressor.  They  were  "  required 
to  do  a  large  amount  of  work  for  a  small  amount  of 
pay  ;"  to  make  brick  and  gather  the  straw  needed  for 
baking  them  ;  building  storehouses  and  treasure-cities 
at  little  cost  to  the  Egyptians.  That  was  work  of  no 
small  value  to  their  masters,  however  much  some  try 
to  minimize  it.  Indeed,  the  ruins  of  those  cities  are 
among  the  most  precious  of  modern  discoveries  in  the 
Nileland,  and  though  not  yet  yielding  names  of  the 
workmen,  they  have  yielded  data  of  great  historical 
value,  enabling  us  to  determine  when  they  were  built 
and  the  names  of  reignin«:  Pharaohs.     Pictures  of  re- 


84  ISRAEL  IN  EGYPT. 

lays  of  laborers  may  yet  be  found  which  will  show  the 
faces  of  the  Hebrew  slave  and  of  the  Egyptian  task- 
master lasli  in  hand.  Bricks  made  with  straw  and 
without  straw  have  been  discovered  at  Pithoni  of  an 
early  age. 

Clearly,  escape  from  that  house  of  bondage  and  of 
cruelty  was  no  easy  matter  for  the  Israelites.  They  had 
lived  on  good  terms  with  the  Hittites  of  Hebron  and 
with  the  Hittites  near  Memphis  and  Zoan,  obtaining 
favorable  position  and  lands  among  people  of  kindred 
ideas  with  themselves.  Zoan  was  built  seven  years 
after  Hebron  (Num.  13  :  22),  and  may  have  been  a 
chief  city  of  the  Hyksos  when  dominant  in  Egypt. 
The  presumption  is  they  never  "  became  Egyptian- 
ized,"  or  why  should  they  be  expelled  by  the  natives  ? 
The  account  says  that  Apepi,  with  his  Hyksos,  was 
finally  worsted  in  the  revolution  effected  by  Ea-Seko- 
nen  of  Thebes,  and  the  domination  of  Memphian 
monotheism  thus  ceased,  after  a  hard  struggle,  which 
Apepi  provoked  ("  Eecords  of  the  Past,"  vol.  viii., 
p.  3  ;  "  God  Enthroned  in  Redemption,"  pp.  58-00). 
Plow  long  these  foreigners  dwelt  in  Egypt  is  not  cer- 
tain, but  they  resided  there  for  a  considerable  period, 
and  after  their  ejection  the  condition  of  the  Israelites 
became  oppressive. 

Soon  thoughts  arose  among  them  how  to  effect  their 
escape  from  what  was  now  a  state  of  vassalage.  The 
country  about  Goshen  allotted  to  them  supplied  the 
most  they  knew  of  Egypt,  and  the  new  rulers  did  not 
mean  they  should  know  much  more  of  it.  Brugsch 
says  the  men  of  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt  spoke  a  dif- 
ferent dialect.     The  Zoan  connection  with  Hebron  was 


SINAI  AND   THE  LAW.  85 

a  ground  of  hostility.  Yet  Rcnaii  says  that  some  of 
the  Ilyksos  remained  to  aid  Israel  in  effecting  their 
escape  ;  who  at  once  increased  tlieir  numbers  and 
fought  their  battles.  With  marked  inconsistency,  ho 
also  says  that  "  the  Hebrews  had  become  useless  to 
Egypt  !"  This  seems  to  have  been  stated  in  order  to 
contradict  the  Bible  account  that  they  were  delivered 
from  that  "  land  of  bondage  with  a  mighty  hand  and 
an  outstretched  arm."  Surely  if  they  were  "  useless 
to  Egypt,"  they  would  not  need  Hyksos  aid  to  escape 
from  a  people  who  did  not  want  them  ?  And  if  they 
were  "  allowed  to  make  frequent  pilgrimages  to  Sinai," 
there  was  all  the  less  need  of  such  assistance  or  of 
Divine  interposition.  Yet  Renan  says  the  ''  govern- 
ment had  no  desire  to  keep  by  force  a  band  of  for- 
eigners whose  presence,  to  say  the  least,  had  become 
useless  ;  who  were  a  small  unarmed  set,  whose  escape 
was  hardly  missed  ;  that  owing  to  dynastic  weakness, 
fugitives  who  got  beyond  the  Bitter  Lakes  were  cer- 
tain of  their  freedom  !"  ("  History  of  the  People  of 
Israel,"  pp.  132-'I0.)  This  way  of  writing  "  how 
things  might  have  been,"  if  applied  to  the  history  of 
our  Southern  States,  would  represent  them  as  disgusted 
with  their  slaves  and  quite  willing  to  be  rid  of  the 
nuisance.  Y^et  it  is  precisely  how  Renan  represents 
that  the  Beni-Israel  were  regarded  in  Egypt.  They 
were  useless,  and  they  were  allow^ed  to  make  frequent 
pilgrimages  to  Sinai.  Routed  Hyksos  or  Hittites  were 
permitted  to  remain  with  them  to  increase  their  num- 
bers and  to  light  their  battles  !  Such  history  will  not 
do  for  intelligent  Americans  who  remember  the  late 
war  for  our  Union. 


86  ISRAEL  IN  EGYPT. 

And  one  motive  for  tliis  misrepresentation  seems  to 
be  to  get  rid  of  Moses,  or  to  reduce  his  work  to  the 
least  possible  value.  A  people  not  wanted,  and  who 
were  privileged  "  to  make  frequent  visits  to  Sinai,  the 
ancient  abode  of  their  god,"  would  certainly  not  need 
a  great  Deliverer  and  Legislator  to  conduct  them  via 
the  Bitter  Lakes  to  freedom  and  nationality  !  Nor 
would  they  need  the  aid  of  God's  outstretched  arm. 
But  when  our  rhapsodist  gets  that  "  useless"  people 
among  the  mountains  of  Sinai,  beset  by  hostile  Amale- 
kites,  by  seducing  Midianites,  by  alarmed  Moabites, 
he  rehabilitates  "  Moses,  who  must  be  considered  as 
almost  an  Egyptian,  whose  real  part  was  much  more, 
it  would  appear,  that  of  a  chief  after  the  fashion  of 
Abdel-Kader  than  that  of  a  prophet  like  Mahomet" 
(p.  185).  However  that  may  be,  Moses  was  no  less  a 
chief  than  a  legislator  and  organizer,  whose  life-work 
is  woven  into  the  life  and  history  of  Israel,  whose  en- 
tire literature  identifies  him  as  the  man  who,  by  Jah- 
veh's  direction,  '^  brought  them  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt,  out  of  the  house  of  bondage."  It  is  a  char- 
acterization which  must  have  been  original  at  the  time, 
and  it  would  not  be  applied  from  the  era  of  Solomon 
to  Josiah. 

Some  reduce  the  residence  of  Israel  in  that  house  of 
bondage  to  about  a  century  ;  Schrader  and  others 
make  it  at  least  two  centuries  ;  and  it  may  be  much 
longer.  The  one-century  idea  is  absurdly  too  short, 
especially  when  it  is  affirmed  that  the  two  Ilittite  capi- 
tals, Hebron  and  Zoan,  had  large  influence  upon  Israel 
during  their  sojourn  in  the  Nileland.  It  was  a  cen- 
tury of  revolution  and  migration.     Jacob  himself  left 


SINAI  AND   THE  LA  W.  87 

the  region  of  Hebron  and  dwelt  in  Goshen  among 
the  Ilittites  there,  if  there  were  any  remaining.  But 
in  the  course  of  a  century  the  Ilittites  and  Ilyksos 
were  expelled  ;  a  new  dynasty  reigned  over  the  Delta 
and  all  Egypt  ;  a  new  king  arose  w^ho  knew  not 
Joseph,  and  had  no  sympathy  with  his  people  or  their 
fortunes.  How,  during  such  a  revolutionary  and 
transitional  period,  there  could  have  been  any  great 
influence  of  Hittites  upon  Israel  is  not  clear  ;  if  there 
were,  and  it  had  been  known  to  the  Tlieban  Dynasty, 
the  snccessors  of  Ra-Sekenen  would  have  cut  it  short 
as  soon  as  possible.  Still  those  Hyksos  may  have  ren- 
dered the  Hebrews  more  steadfast  to  the  old  mono- 
theism during  their  sojourn,  and  in  other  ways  have 
strengthened  them  in  preserving  their  religious  differ- 
ences. But  we  can  see  that  a  century  does  not  cover 
the  period  between  Jacob's  descent  and  the  Exodus. 
Professor  Maspero  says  :  '^  Hebron  no  doubt  was  ac- 
quainted with  the  Hittite  writing  of  Zoan,  adopted  it, 
and  possessed  writings  from  a  remote  date.  Hence 
perhaps  Genesis  14.  The  Ketas  were  familiar  with 
handwriting  about  1300  b.c."  ('*  History,"  pp.  22-1, 
225).  If,  then,  those  Ketas  or  Hyksos  had  great 
influence  upon  the  Hebrews  of  Hebron  and  Southern 
Palestine,  and  also  in  Zoan,  why  should  not  that 
influence  include  writing  ?  It  was  not  regarded  as 
a  sacred  art,  and  so  kept  as  an  exclusive  possession 
by  Hebronites.  Rather  it  is  another  reason  for  sup- 
posing that  the  Hebrews  of  the  Exodus  understood 
writing,  at  least  the  well-to-do  among  them  ;  and  their 
sub-ofticers  were  Hebrews,  Shoterim,  writers  who  kept 
their  own  records  and  reports   (Ex.  5  :  14,  15,  19). 


88  ISRAEL  IN  EGYPT. 

Since  some  formed  the  opinion  that  IsraeFs  sojourn 
in  Egypt  was  about  two  centuries,  facts  have  come  to 
light  which  indicate  a  much  longer  abode  there. 
Rameses  II.,  of  the  nineteenth  dynasty,  was  the  Pha- 
raoh of  the  Opi^ression,  the  builder  of  the  treasure- 
cities  Pithom  and  Pameses  ;  and  under  his  successor 
Menephtah  occurred  the  deliverance  by  Moses,  about 
1350  B.C.  Add  to  this  date  the  four  hundred  years 
from  Jacob's  descent  to  Egypt,  and  it  puts  us  in  the 
era  of  xVpepi  and  Ra-Sekenen,  making  all  consistent 
with  the  Bible  account,  with  the  state  of  art,  culture, 
and  commerce,  and  bringing  the  date  of  the  Exodus 
to  the  close  of  the  Augustan  era  of  the  Egyptian  Em- 
pire. Thus  the  four  hundred  years  of  bondage  (Gen. 
15  :  13  ;  Ex.  12  :  40  ;  xicts  7  :  0)  find  full  confirma- 
tion, and  Penan's  "about  a  century"  is  clearly  too 
short. 

It  also  places  the  wonders  of  Egypt  and  of  the  wil- 
derness by  Moses  and  the  exploits  of  Joshua  in  Canaan 
in  the  full  splendor  of  a  civilized  age,  wdien  Shalman- 
eser  I.  was  beginning  to  make  Assyria  famous,  wlien 
Phoenicians  and  Ilittites,  Babylonians  and  Egyptians 
were  writing  histories  which  have  just  now  come  to 
light,  and  when,  says  a  living  writer,  "  it  would  have 
been  historical  madness  to  associate  such  extraordinary 
occurrences  with  such  times,  unless  there  had  existed 
a  full  knowledge  that  they  w^ere  real,  and  not  fabulous 
events.  From  the  time  of  Pameses  the  Great  down 
to  the  Christian  era,  the  mythological  period  of  the 
East  was  closed  ;  literature  and  art  and  historical  rec- 
ords were  as  autlientic  as  in  the  era  of  Augustus." 
This  clears  away  "  the  mists  of  a  remote  antiquity," 


SINAI  AND   THE  LAW.  89 

and  brings  Moses,  Joshua,  and  the  Judges  nearer  to 
the  brilliant  age  of  David  and  Solomon.  It  sets  Abra- 
ham where  he  seems  historically  to  belong,  dying  in 
B.C.  about  1833  ;  naturally  Jacob  may  hav^e  gone  to 
Egypt  a  century  later  ;  after  an  enslavement  of  four 
liundrcd  years  his  children  were  delivered  in  about 
1350  B.C.  Renouf  makes  the  Exodus  to  have  occurred 
in  1310  B.C.— Mr.  R.  S.  Poole  thinks  about  1300  b.c. 
It  was  an  era  of  civilization,  when  some  Israelites  had 
learned  to  read  and  write  ;  had  skill  to  make  all  the 
furniture  of  the  tabernacle,  and  to  dye  the  brilliant 
colors  of  its  curtains  and  hangings  ''  violet  blue  and 
red  purple;"  when  cities  like  K.irj'a.th- sepher  were 
celebrated  for  its  hooks  /  and  when  imposture  in  na- 
tional literature  and  history  could  be  as  readily  de- 
tected as  in  the  age  of  the  Antonines.  The  researches 
of  modern  scholars  and  explorers  shed  the  light  of  day 
upon  the  night  of  Egypt.  It  is  remarkable  that  when 
the  Old  Testament  was  vigorousl}^  attacked  by  histori- 
cal and  scientific  rhapsodists,  those  long  buried  records 
should  be  brought  to  light  wdiich  illustrate  the  very 
questions  they  had  darkened  by  over-much  criticism. 
Other  ''  finds"  are  expected  in  Palestine,  in  old  Tyre, 
Byblos,  Gibul,  Kerjath-sepher,  from  their  literary 
deposits.  But  already  we  have  enough  discovered  to 
mark  the  era  of  the  Hyksos,  the  oppression  of  Kameses, 
and  the  Exodus  under  his  son  Menephtah. 

It  allows  of  sufficient  time  for  the  increase  of  Jacob's 
family,  so  that  they  could  cope  in  manly  force  and 
numbers  with  hostile  Amalekites  and  other  opponents  ; 
showing  what  a  loss  they  must  have  been  to  their 
former  masters,   and  why  they  would  force  them  to 


90  ISRAEL  IN  EGYPT. 

return.  Nor  were  tlie  Beni-Israel  the  sort  of  men 
who  in  a  century  would  shik  to  the  condition  of  shives. 
In  the  wilderness  they  illustrated  the  spirit  of  their 
ancestors  in  courage  and  dash  against  their  foes. 
Even  before  they  reached  the  holy  mount,  Joshua 
with  his  chosen  men  routed  Amalek  and  his  people 
(Ex.  17  :  8-13).  It  recalls  how  Abraham  suddenly 
extinguished  Chedorlaomer  and  his  allies,  who  had  cap- 
tured Lot  and  his  belongings  (Gen.  11).  Equipped 
with  the  arms  of  drowned  Egyptians,  they  proved  as 
apt  scholars  in  the  art  of  war  as  in  brick-making  and 
calf- worship.  Reliable  history  represents  yonng  slaves 
in  Egypt  as  sitting  side  by  side  with  the  children  of 
their  masters,  and  learning  all  that  was  taught  to  noble 
youth.  It  was  the  one  way  to  rise  to  wealth  and  dis- 
tinction. See  this  in  Brugsch's  "  History."  We  are 
too  apt  to  compare  the  condition  of  Israel  in  Egypt 
with  that  of  slaves  in  modern  times.  And  the  schools 
of  "destructive  criticism"  find  it  to  tally  with  their 
purpose  of  portraying  the  ignorance  of  Israel  at  the 
Exode,  in  order  to  insist  upon  the  inability  to  write 
and  to  legislate  for  an  enlightened  and  developed  na- 
tion. They  also  ignore  and  try  to  eliminate  the  hand 
of  God  in  the  deliverance  of  Israel.  Oehler  happily 
says  :  "  Even  in  the  heathen  aocounts  of  the  departure 
from  Egypt,  by  Manetho  and  Diodorus,  it  comes  out 
undeniably  that  there  was  a  great  religious  struggle. 
The  plagues  rise  step  by  step  until  the  killing  of  the 
first-born."  The  obstinate  heart  of  Pharaoh  was  to 
be  humbled  and  his  pride  subdued  by  those  plagues 
(Exodus,  chs.  T-il).  Two  of  them  directly  attack  the 
local  deities — viz.,  the  sun  as  the  symbol  of  Osiris,  who 


SINAI  AND    THE  LAW.  91 

was  then  worsliipped  as  a  god  ;  and  the  river  Nile,  for 
causing  bountiful  harvests,  was  regarded  as  a  beneficent 
deity.  J3oth  were  to  feel  the  superior  power  of  Jah- 
veh,  who  would  be  acknowledged  in  Egypt.  The 
waters  of  the  Nile  were  changed  into  a  blood-red  color, 
and  its  fish  died  therein  ;  an  unparalleled  darkness  fell 
on  the  land  for  three  days,  which  terribly  awed  the 
Egyptians.  This  was  followed  by  the  death  of  all  the 
first-born,  as  was  threatened  by  Moses,  from  the  first- 
born of  Pharaoh  to  the  first-born  of  the  maid  servant 
and  of  all  Egyptian  animals,  including  those  regarded 
as  sacred.  To  mark  the  visitation  as  more  emphati- 
cally that  of  Jahveh,  the  Israelites  were  exempt  from 
these  atfiictions  ;  for  the  Lord  would  receive  honor 
from  Pharaoh.  They  are  specific  and  terror-striking 
evidences  of  Divine  power  such  as  no  later  wTiter 
would  think  of  inventing,  and  which  no  contemporary 
writer  would  dare  to  afhrni  if  not  true.  The  intelli- 
i^ence  of  that  a^e  of  commercial  dealino^s  with  other 
nations  witnessed  the  humbling  of  the  deities  of  Egypt 
by  the  God  of  Israel.  It  is  like  the  Philistine  Dagon 
falling  prostrate  and  broken  to  pieces  before  the  Ark 
in  a  later  age.     And  the  fame  thereof  went  abroad. 

Such  a  record  could  not  have  been  published  during 
the  reign  of  Solomon,  for  he  had  married  an  Egyptian 
princess  ;  nor  under  that  of  Kehoboam,  for  he  was 
punished  by  Shishak,  King  of  Egypt  (1  Chron.  12)  ; 
nor  under  Jeroboam,  for  he  looked  to  Pharaoh  for 
recognition  in  his  new  kingdom,  and  ever  trembled  on 
his  usurped  throne  (1  Kings  11:17;  14  : 1-12).  Isaiah, 
cli.  31,  tells  us  of  an  Egyptian  party  in  Jerusalem  which 
would  invoke  the  help  of  Pharauh  against  Assyria.     It 


92  ISRAEL  IN  EGYPT. 

assuredly  would  not  provoke  Egypt  by  the  publication 
for  the  first  time  of  a  Book  of  Exodus,  with  its  groan- 
ings  of  Israel  for  the  cruelties  endured  in  that  land  of 
bondage  !  Every  consideration  of  affairs  in  Palestine 
goes  to  show  that  the  record  of  the  life  of  Hebrews  in 
Egypt  and  their  deliverance  from  it  must  have  been 
originally  published  before  Samuel.  During  the  regal 
period  it  was  a  literary  impossibility,  and  the  substance 
of  the  Pentateuch  is  incorporated  with  the  national 
literature. 

Any  resemblance  between  the  religious  rites  of  these 
two  peoples  must  be  referred  to  that  early  acquaint- 
ance. The  deep  impression  made  upon  Israel  by  the 
serpent  god  and  Ilathor  calves,  which  Kenan  claims 
to  crop  out  whenever  they  could  elude  the  pressure  of 
the  Puritan  influence  (p.  125),  may  be  otherwise  ex- 
plained— viz.,  by  the  healing  efficacy  once  derived 
from  looking  at  the  serpent  of  brass  at  the  Divine 
command,  and  by  the  royal  influence  which  would 
hold  on  to  its  power  by  setting  up  calf  shrines  at  old 
Dan  and  Bethel,  in  order  to  keep  the  people  from  re- 
turning to  allegiance  with  the  House  of  David,  if  they 
went  to  the  temple  worship  at  eJernsalem  (1  Kings 
12  :  2G-33).  The  making  of  a  golden  calf  during  the 
j^rotracted  absence  of  Moses  in  the  holy  mount  was  a 
symbolism  never  reijeated  by  loyal  Israelites  ;  a  sym- 
bol of  their  true  God  it  was  originallj^  intended  to  be. 
Aaron  built  an  altar  before  it,  and  made  proclamation 
that  on  the  morrow  was  a  feast  to  the  Lord  (Ex.  32  : 
6).  As  it  would  inevitably  lead  to  apostasy  from  the 
worship  of  Jehovah,  who  signified  His  hot  displeas- 
ure at  the  abomination,  Moses  reduced    the   calf   to 


SmAl  AND   THE  LAW.  03 

powder,  mixed  that  with  water,  and  made  tlie  people 
drink  it. 

Israel  may  liave  become  prepared  in  Egypt  to  ac- 
cept tlie  appointment  and  ministry  of  a  priestly  class, 
separate  from  the  people,  and  without  a  murmur  to 
acknowledge  the  tribe  of  Levi,  who,  unlike  the  priests 
of  Egypt,  at  fii'st  had  but  small  provision  for  their 
support  ;  no  tribal  lands  in  Palestine  were  assigned 
them.  But  such  an  order  is  not  conceded  then  to  ex- 
ist by  those  critics  whom  Renan  follows.  However, 
they  claim  that  the  "  sacred  bark  of  Egyptian  temples 
suggested  to  Moses  the  Ark  described  in  Exodus  ;" 
but  it  could  not  suggest  the  details  of  its  making,  nor 
its  symbolic  cherubim,  nor  the  rich  curtains  and  furni- 
ture of  the  tabernacle.  According  to  Professor  Mas- 
pero,  the  temple  of  the  Sphinx  was  bare  of  such  orna- 
ment ("  Egyptian  Archaeology,"  pp.  63-105  ;  "  God 
Enthroned  in  Redemption,"  p.  49).  We  may  there- 
fore grant  some  genius  to  Moses  and  some  skill  to  his 
myriads  of  Israelites,  whatever  our  views  of  Inspira- 
tion among  them. 

There  is,  however,  much  which  they  did  not  learn 
in  Egypt  :  they  did  not  learn  their  theology.  This 
had  been  revealed  to  Abraham  and  Jacob,  and  repeated 
to  Moses.  On  Mount  Sinai,  which  w^^^^jpar  excellence^ 
the  Mount  of  Jahveh  (Ex.  19  ;  Deut.  33  :  2  ;  Ps.  68  ; 
78  ;  Hab.  3:3),  tlie  grand  Olyinpus  of  Israel  for 
forty  years,  the  Deity  was  manifested  in  Unity  as  the 
Jahveh  of  the  Law  and  of  sacrifice.  There  was  pro- 
claimed the  Divine  manifesto  against  all  polytheism  ; 
the  long-known  Sabl)ath  was  re-enacted  to  be  conse- 
crated to   God  and    His   worship   for  all   generations. 


94  ISRAEL  m  EGYPT. 

Circumcision,  wliicli  was  tlie  rite  of  initiation  into  His 
covenant,  had  been  practised  since  the  promise  to 
Abraham.  The  Passover  celebrated  a  recent  event. 
Autumnal  feasts  were  yet  to  be  establislied  ;  not  for 
four  hundred  years  had  Israel  gathered  its  own  liar- 
vests  on  its  own  lands.  Only  lesser  details  of  ritual 
and  sacrificial  accompaniments  remained  to  be  pro- 
vided. Still,  the  Hebrew  liturgy  at  the  era  of  the 
Exodus  was  very  simple.  It  was  little  indebted  for 
enrichment  to  the  ritual  of  Egypt,  though,  of  course, 
that  was  known  to  Israel  ;  and  the  practice  of  the 
patriarchs  was  better  known.  AVith  them  began  a  writ- 
ten Revelation  from  God — a  revelation  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  covenant  between  man  and  his  Creator, 
which  should  prepare  for  the  redemption  of  the  world. 
That  Revelation  was  now  added  to  ;  but  instead  of 
the  forty-two  Egyptian  commands  of  obligation,  Jah- 
veh,  through  Moses,  gave  only  te7i  laws  for  righteous 
living,  later  supplemented  by  certain  ritual  and  cere- 
monial observances. 

Moreover,  Egypt  had  much  to  say  about  the  dead 
and  return  to  a  second  life  on  earth,  and  she  had  a 
long  book  of  rules  how  to  behave  in  Amenti.  Of  all 
this  Moses  saj^s  so  little  that  some  have  doubted  if  he 
taught  anything  respecting  a  future  life.  Surely  the 
rising  again  of  Osiris  cannot  have  been  the  origin  of 
Moses  being  regarded  as  the  prophet  who  was  thus 
preparing  the  way  for  One  to  whom  the  people  would 
readily  hearken  ?  Indeed,  the  contrasts  between  the 
Mosaic  and  Egyptian  ritual  are  more  striking  than  the 
agreements.  But  even  if  some  ideas  and  laws  were 
thus  l)orrovved,  they  were  adapted  to  the  people  for 


SINAI  AND   TllhJ  LA  W.  95 

wliose  use  tliey  were  enacted.  The  borrowing  also 
makes  for  tlieir  antiquity  ;  for  the  anti(]uity  of  the 
things  borrowed,  and  of  him  wlio  incorporated  tliern 
into  his  system.  Singularly  inconsistent  are  they  who 
urge  this  charge  of  borrowing  ;  for  they  also  allege  a 
late  date  for  the  things  so  borrowed  !  Their  hoot- 
straps  break  while  trying  to  lift  themselves  by  them. 
Hence  some  objectors  admit  an  early  date  for  the  legis- 
lation of  Moses,  though  they  try  to  mininn'ze  the  law- 
giver. But  there  are  so  many  important  matters  con- 
nected with  the  man  and  his  work,  as  well  as  his  age, 
as  to  make  credible  all  related  facts  touching  his  leader- 
ship, his  legislation,  his  being  the  personal  agent  of 
Jaliveh  in  doing  for  Israel  all  that  is  claimed  in  Ex- 
odus and  some  remarkable  Psalms.  Later  additions 
to  a  ritual  which  at  first  was  very  simple  do  not  mili- 
tate against,  but  rather  prove  an  original  ;  for  what 
was  enough  for  a  primitive  people  might  easily  be 
found  inadequate  for  a  developed  and  established 
nation  in  the  temple  of  Solomon. 

A  study  of  the  positive  enactments  of  Moses  enables 
one  to  understand  the  additions  made  by  David  and 
his  successor.  Thus  we  are  prepared  for  the  work  of 
Ilezekiah  and  Josiali,  then  for  that  of  Ezra.  Yet  they 
all  disclose  a  similar  idea  of  the  (iod  they  worshipped. 
Throughout  the  two  thousand  years  of  Hebrew  history 
their  monotheism  is  essentially  the  same,  and  equally 
obligatory  fi-om  first  to  last.     Thus  Abraham,  ''  Shall 


not  the  Judire  of  all  the  earth  do  rif^ht  ?"  does  not 
largely  dilfer  from  our  Lord's  saying  to  the  Samaritan 
woman,  ''  The  Father  seeketh  spiritual  worshippers," 
nor  from   certain   petitions  in  the   Lord's  Prayer.      So 


06  ISRAEL  IN  EGYPT. 

tlie  real  question  is  how  far  tlie  ritual  of  one  period,  as 
compared  with  that  of  another,  really  tended  to  pro- 
mote the  worship  of  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth  ?  This 
assuredly  may  be  affirmed  of  the  Ten  Laws  and  taber- 
nacle service  of  Sinai.  It  was  adapted  to  the  condition  of 
Israel  at  that  time,  and  it  nurtured  some  of  the  noblest 
souls  which  have  eyer  glorified  humanity.  Miriam, 
Deborah  and  Hannah,  Moses,  Manoah  and  Boaz, 
severally  illustrate  lofty  types  of  character.  In  the 
child  Samuel,  the  young  David,  the  boy-king  Josiah, 
the  youthful  Jesus,  are  seen  what  the  system  did  for 
domestic  life.  Its  faith,  its  truth,  its  purity,  its 
docility — so  beautiful,  sincere,  and  strong — are  unsur- 
passed to-day  ;  but  was  it  not  equalled  by  the  love 
which  placed  the  infant  Moses  in  that  pitched  basket 
on  the  Nile,  and  in  that  watchful  sister's  care  who, 
with  the  wit  born  of  affection,  asked  Pharaoh's  daugh- 
ter if  she  might  call  a  Hebrew  nurse  for  the  weeping 
babe  ?  It  was  thus  secured  a  royal  home  and  educa- 
tion with  a  mother's  tenderness,  and  due  instruction 
in  the  faith  of  that  mother's  God.  This  accounts  for 
the  learning  and  the  character  of  Moses,  who  heard  the 
groans  of  his  people,  and  was  being  prepared  to  deliver 
them.  Ill-advised  as  was  his  iirst  attempt,  the  study 
of  years  and  the  Divine  appearance  in  the  bush  sent 
him  forth  as  the  spokesman  of  Israel  to  Pharaoh,  that 
he  must  let  them  go.  At  length,  by  the  interposition 
of  an  Almighty  hand,  they  went  forth  ;  were  pursued, 
and  their  pursuers  were  destroyed  ;  Israel  was  safe 
among  the  mountains  of  Sinai. 

The  wonders  wdnch  effected  this  deliverance  arc  ob- 
jected to  as  being   miraculous  ;  but   they  are  scarcely 


SINAI  AND   THE  LA  W.  97 

more  so  tliau  the  events  which  mark  the  entire  conrse 
of  IsraeL  The  exph^its  of  Joshua  and  the  Judges  arc 
very  marvellous,  as  are  certain  acts  of  Samuel  and 
other  prophets.  The  era  of  Ahab  is  confessedly  his- 
torical, having  contemporary  records  in  Assyria  ;  but 
it  is  only  events  affecting  both  countries  which  are  re- 
lated of  Israel  in  Assyrian  inscriptions.  Still  if  the 
events  so  related  are  to  be  believed  because  of  such 
confirmation,  why  should  local  doings,  which  do  not 
touch  outsiders,  be  discredited  because  they  too  are 
not  narrated  by  a  distant  annalist  ?  Nay,  if  the  mat- 
ters common  to  Israel  and  another  country  are  cor- 
rectly given  in  Israelitish  annals,  we  may  watli  all  the 
more  reason  believe  those  wdiich  are  local.  Thus  at 
Carmel  we  have  the  tragedy  of  Baal's  followers  and 
Elijah  testing  the  superior  power  of  Jahveli  ;  at  Iloreb 
it  was  the  same  Divine  power  now  rending  the  moun- 
tains, breaking  to  pieces  the  rocks,  shaking  the  earth, 
sending  forth  fire,  then  heard  in  a  mysterious  voice 
speaking  words  of  encouragement  to  Elijah,  and  bid- 
ding him  to  anoint  Elisha  as  his  successor,  Ilazael  to 
be  King  of  Syria,  and  Jehu  King  of  Israel  (1  Kings 
ISth  and  19tli).  Now^  as  we  find  these  three  regal 
names  in  contemporary  history,  we  surely  ought  to 
accept  the  record  of  all  the  prophet  did,  even  though 
unattested  by  those  whom  it  did  not  concern.  It  is 
the  rule  of  law.  ^Ye  may  also  accept  similar  accounts 
of  wonders  by  Moses.  At  Sinai  there  is  hardly  more 
grandeur  or  majesty  or  voice  than  at  Carmel  and 
Iloreb.     At  each  mountain  Jahveh  speaks  to  man. 

M.   Renan's  criticism  here  is  unique,  if  not  witty. 
Thus  he  changes   the   "  unto"   of  Exodus  19  :  3  for 


98  ISRAEL  IN  EGYPT. 

i7ito,  and  reads,  '^  Moses  went  np  into  Elohim,"  so  as 
to  suggest  that  it  was  a  cloud  or  mjtliical  something, 
not  a  personal  God.  Is  the  reader  not  expected  to 
look  at  the  next  clause  of  the  verse,  which  says,  "  The 
LoKD  called  unto  hhn  out  of  the  onountain^^  \  In  the 
one  case  as  in  the  other  the  Hebrew  word  may  be  ren- 
dered by  the  same  in  English,  However,  Renan  does 
not  suggest  that  we  should  read  ''  called  into  Moses." 
Why  not  ?  The  absurdity  would  be  no  greater,  nor 
the  irreverence.  He  interprets  Exodus  3  :  18  to  mean 
that  the  Egyptian  Semites  made  frequent  pilgrimages 
to  Sinai,  and  there  offered  sacrifices  ;  for  they  believed 
their  God  resided  there  ("  History  of  the  People  of 
Israel,"  vol.  i.,  pp.  159-62).  This  is  to  mislead  those 
readers  who  do  not  see  that  the  narrative  means  a 
very  different  thing.  J^ot  as  to  a  sanctuary  had 
Moses  fled  thither,  but  to  be  out  of  Pharaoh's  reach  ; 
and  when,  after  many  years'  abode  in  that  region,  he 
saw  the  burning  bush,  he  was  astonished,  but  curious 
to  examine  it.  Then  a  Divine  voice  spoke  to  him. 
The  whole  chapter  of  Exodus  3  corrects  Renan,  espe- 
cially verses  5  to  10,  jnaking  known  the  God  of  his 
fathers,  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  ;  also  proving  the 
weakness  of  the  assumption  tliat  Israelites  were  wont, 
while  held  in  bondage,  to  make  pilgrimages  to  Sinai, 
and  offer  sacrifices  to  a  local  god  !  Jahveli  is  not  thus 
to  be  reduced  to  the  character  and  position  of  a  mere 
tribal  Deity. 

Nor  does  it  help  Renan  to  say  that  it  was  perhaps 
at  this  time  (after  the  giving  of  the  law  at  Sinai)  that 
"  they  circulated  the  pretended  oracles  of  the  God  of 
Bethel,  who  had  promised  the  ancestors  of  the  nation 


SJNAI  AND   THK  LA  W.  00 

to  give  tlieiu  this  laud.  Siutli  a  promise  from  the  god 
of  a  country  was  bestowal  of  it  upon  whom  he 
wished"  (p.  172).  However,  as  he  says  that  "  writ- 
ing was  not  known  in  Israel  till  al)out  the  ninth  cen- 
tury B.C.,"  it  w^ould  be  proper  to  inform  us  how  those 
^'  pretended  oracles"  had  been  preserved  during  those 
dreary  centuries  for  opportune  circulation  among  the 
people,  and  that  well-known  book  of  Exodus  IT  :  1-i. 
But  his  representation  of  "  how^  things  might  have 
happened"  contains  no  evidence  that  the  fathers  of 
the  Israel  of  the  Exodas  were  ever  at  I^ethel,  or  liad 
ever  had  that  land  promised  them.  LTncertain  persons 
could  not  be  sure  of  anything,  not  even  of  a  vision 
seen  when  sacriiicing  at  an  altar.  Of  similar  character 
is  his  comment  upon  the  song  in  Numbers  21  :  17,  IS  ; 
it  "  became  the  orii^^in  of  miraculous  stories.  The 
spring  was  discovered  by  means  of  a  divining  rod" 
(p.  175)  !  But  in  Psalm  6S  he  allows  "  w^e  possess  a 
religious  song  which  is  the  most  singular  composition 
in  Hebrew  literature.  We  eeem  to  hear  the  distant 
echo  of  the  triumphal  deity  travelling  across  the  desert. 
The  style  is  a  sign  of  its  antiquity.  In  it  Sinai  fig- 
ures as  the  place  of  the  highest  theophany.  The  taber- 
nacle of  God  with  men  existed  from  that  moment" 
(p.  177).  Now  if  at  J>ethel,  at  Sinai,  at  Jerusalem, 
Jahveh  did  thus  manifest  Himself  to  Abraham  and 
Jacob,  to  Moses  and  David  (1  Cliron.  IG  ;  2  Sam.  24), 
why  attempt  to  minimize  the  oracles  which  declare 
it  i — which  other  critics  of  the  Pentateuch  admit  to  be 
genuine,  which  Kenan  himself  admits  to  be  of  high 
antiquity,  and  which  perfectly  accord  with  the  early 
religious   sentiment    and   theology    of    the    Hebrews. 


100  ISRAEL  IN  EGYPT. 

It  was  evidenced  by  the  Law  of  the  Covenant  at  Sinai, 
and  its  supplemental  details  and  exposition.  Knowl- 
edge of  that  Law  and  Ritual  often  reappears  during 
the  era  of  the  Judges  ;  it  existed  in  the  time  of  Sani- 
nel,  of  David,  and  of  Solomon.  King  Amaziah,  b.c. 
838-809,  acted  according  to  the  written  law  of  Moses 
(2  Kings  14  :  6).  Jehu  in  Samaria,  b.c.  884  to  856, 
took  no  heed  to  walk  in  the  law  of  the  Lord  God  of 
Israel  (2  Kings  10  :  31),  while  in  chapter  11  :  12  and 
2  Chronicles  23  :  11  and  18  we  find  repeated  mention 
of  ''  the  testimony"  and  "  law  of  Moses."  This  was 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  the  finding  of  a 
copy  of  the  law  under  Josiah,  b.c.  640-609  (2  Chron. 
34  :  14-19).  "  Written  in  the  law  of  Moses"  is  the 
reason  assigned  why  a  new  king  did  not  avenge  the 
death  of  his  father  (2  Chron.  25  :  4).  Moreover,  the 
Prophet  Elijah  (b.c.  919-889)  sent  an  epistle  in  writ- 
ing to  Jehoram  of  Jerusalem,  because  he  walked  not 
as  his  father  had  done  (2  Chron.  21  :  12-15).  It 
shows  the  care  of  the  prophet  of  the  Northern  King- 
dom for  the  observance  of  the  Law  by  the  King  of  the 
South,  and  it  shows  that  writing  letters  was  then 
practised. 

We  have  seen  why  the  Egyptian  wife  of  Solomon, 
the  Egyptian  support  of  Jeroboam,  the  Egyptian  fear 
in  Rehoboam,  who  lost  ten  of  the  Tribes,  and  the 
Egyptian  party  in  Jerusalem  in  the  days  of  Isaiah, 
would  prevent  the  putting  forth  such  a  book  as  that 
of  Exodus  during  their  time.  It  was  not  possible,  for 
reasons  just  stated,  to  do  so  in  the  ninth  century.  The 
eighth  century  was  stirred  through  and  through  by 
reforming  prophets,  and  in  724  b.c.  Shalmaneser  IV. 


SINAI  AND   THE  LAW.  101 

disco\^ered  King  Ilosliea  to  be  in  hostile  comnmnicii- 
tion  against  him  with  Egypt.  This  would  prevent  the 
pnbhcation  of  a  book  which  retlected  on  that  coun- 
try. Shahnaneser  marched  against  Samaria,  besieged 
it  for  three  years,  and  it  fell  under  Sargon,  his  succes- 
sor, B.C.  721,  never  to  be  rehabilitated  as  the  capital  of 
the  Northern  Kingdom,  which  had  been  apostate  from 
Jahveh  since  Jeroboam  1.  This  sweeps  away  all  prob- 
ability of  the  origin  of  the  Pentateuch  between  David 
and  the  captivity  of  Israel.  Its  history  recounts  the 
violations  of  covenant  hiw.  In  the  remaining  king- 
dom, of  which  Jerusalem  was  the  head,  the  chances  of 
a  false  publication  were  small  indeed.  The  one 
prophet  to  whom  such  a  work  is  attributed  by  Kenan 
was  the  least  fitted  for  it.  Jeremiah  was  too  genuine 
and  lofty  a  character  ;  he  had  suffered  too  much,  and 
he  knew  too  well  the  truth,  to  attempt  to  pahn  off  as  a 
work  of  Moses  any  writing  of  his  own.  "While  he 
''  lamented  Josiah  for  his  goodness  and  all  that  he  had 
done  according  to  the  Law  of  the  Lord,"  he  would 
not  provoke  Egypt  by  writing  a  false  history.  See  2 
Chronicles  35  :  20-25,  and  the  last  three  chapters  of 
2  Kings.  Josiah  was  slain  by  Pharaoh-Necho  at 
Megiddo,  though  he  remonstrated  against  his  inter- 
ference that  he  had  not  come  against  him,  but,  at  the 
command  of  the  Lord,  against  Nebuchadnezzar. 
Babylon  indeed  triumphed.  Even  Jeremiah  became 
a  forced  refugee  in  Egypt,  where  he  uttered  liis 
prophetic  voice  against  her,  that  slie  should  be  given 
into  the  hand  of  her  enemies,  chapters  40  to  44.  That 
age  of  commotion  and  of  Exile  was  clearly'  unfavor- 
able to  high  legislative  work.     The  forgery  of  a  book 


102  ISRAEL  IN  EGYPT. 

like  that  of  Exodns  or  Deuteronomy,  much  more  a 
whole  Pentateuch,  was  out  of  human  possibihty  in 
Israel  ;  so  was  a  new  edition  of  them  with  large  revi- 
sion of  the  text.  Evidently  Daniel,  made  captive  in 
605  B.C.,  had  carried  with  him  the  Law  of  Moses  and 
other  sacred  books,  to  which  he  makes  emphatic  refer- 
ence in  chapters  9  :  2,  11,  13  ;  6  :  5.  Indeed,  from 
the  Disruption  of  the  Tribes  under  Jeroboam  to  the 
fall  of  (Samaria  and  of  Jerusalem,  the  local  conditions 
forbade  the  fabrication  of  a  work  like  the  Pentateuch. 
War  and  self-preservation,  not  literature  and  legisla- 
tion, occupied  the  mind  of  Hebrews.  It  was  Egypt 
vs.  Judah,  or  Assyria  vs.  Israel  and  Judah,  or  Baby- 
lon vs.  each,  or  all  these  vs.  Assyria  ;  "  that  the  king- 
doms of  the  earth  might  know  that  Jehovah  was  the 
only  Lord  God."  The  testimony  is  unanimous, 
Moses,  Menephtah,  Joshua,  Samuel,  David,  Ilezekiah, 
Nebuchadnezzar,  Darius — all  testifying  to  the  great- 
ness, majesty,  and  sovereign  power  of  the  God  of 
Jacob,  who  is  the  Ruler  and  Wonderworker  in  heaven 
and  in  earth.  Read  Exodus  15  ;  20  :  2-lT  ;  Deuter- 
onomy, chapters  5,  6,  7  ;  Joshua  23  and  21  ;  Judges 
5  ;  2  Samuel  22  :  2-51  ;  2  Kings  19  :  15-35  ;  Daniel 
4:tli  and  6th.  The  unanimity  covers  many  centuries, 
and  authenticates  the  testimony.  Forgery  in  such 
case  is  impossible. 

The  analysis  of  the  Pentateuch  is  so  thoroughlj^  dis- 
cussed by  Professors  Harper  and  Green  that  I  beg  to 
refer  readers  v/ho  wish  to  study  this  question  to  their 
pages.  My  endeavor  is  to  prove  the  early  revelation 
and  covenant  of  God  to  Abraham,  and  the  fact  of  the 
Law  and  Covenant  at  Sinai  with  Israel,  rather  than 


SINAI  AND   THE  LAW.  103 

minute  analysis  of  the  text.  Prophets  ever  authenti- 
cated that  text,  and  even  scattered  Hebrews  in  Pales- 
tine could  as  easily  know  the  Law  of  the  Covenant  as 
the  early  English  before  printing  knew  the  teachings 
of  the  Christian  Church.  The  parallel  may  include 
both  priests  and  people  in  those  ages.  Perhaps  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer  bears  a  similar  relation  to 
ancient  Missals  as  the  worsliip  and  ritual  of  the  Tem- 
ple bore  to  that  of  the  Tabernacle,  while  back  of  each 
was  the  duly  authenticated  text  of  Holy  Scripture. 


V. 

AT   HOME   m    PALESTINE  :    MIEACULOUS 
EVENTS. 

The  history  of  Israel  began  at  the  calling  of  Abra- 
ham. The  descent  to  Egypt,  departure  from  it,  and 
receiving  the  Law  at  Sinai  formed  new  chapters.  Tlie 
desert  wanderings  constitute  an  episode  without  a  paral- 
lel in  history.  Joshua's  conquests  before  the  settle- 
ment in  Canaan  accord  with  the  previous  record.  But 
we  must  not  fail  to  notice  what  a  change  had  come 
over  those  peoples.  Their  fathers  had  beheld  with 
sympathizing  interest  the  burial  of  Jacob  by  his 
sons,  with  Joseph  at  their  head,  attended  by  a  large 
company  of  Egyptians,  both  in  chariots  and  on  horses 
(Gen.  50  :  7-13).  The  Canaanites  who  savv  the 
mourners  and  their  grievous  lamentation  were  deeply 
impressed.  There  was  not  a  sign  of  disrespect,  or  of 
opposition.  The  seventeen  years'  absence  of  the  pa- 
triarch had  not  obliterated  from  memory  the  esteem 
which  the  inhabitants  had  for  him,  which  they  still  re- 
tained. That  burial,  with  such  a  retinue  in  attend- 
ance, meant  that  there  was  the  home  of  the  departed 
and  the  home  of  his  sons,  who  would  at  some  future 
time  make  it  their  abode.  Machpelah  had  been 
bought  for  a  ]3ermanent  burying-place.     There  were 


MIRACULOUS  EVENTS.  105 

buried  Abraham  and  Sarah  his  wife  ;  there  were  buried 
Isaac  and  Ilebekah  his  wife  ;  there  Jacob  buried  Leah  ; 
and  now  his  body  is  hiid  beside  hers  (Gen.  49  :  31). 
It  was  a  sad  but  peaceful  interment,  full  of  hope  and 
promise  to  the  dead  who  now  slept  with  his  fathers. 

But  when  Joshua  arrived  in  the  country  four  hun- 
dred years  afterward,  he  found  a  very  different  state 
of  feeling  in  the  people,  and  had  a  very  different  re- 
ception from  them.  The  Ilittites  or  Ilethites  rose  in 
force  against  him  ;  he  routed  them  in  battle,  hanged 
their  king,  and  destroyed  his  people  (Josh.  10).  It 
discloses  changes  since  the  burial  of  Jacob,  which  the 
absence  of  his  children  for  "  about  a  century  in 
Egypt"  does  not  explain.  The  various  tribes  of  Ca- 
naan had  become  more  numerous,  more  warlike,  and 
more  wicked.  The  inhabitants  of  Hebron  were  no 
longer  friendly  to,  but  fierce  against  them.  Such  Ilit- 
tites were  not  the  men  to  stand  by  them  in  Egypt,  to 
''increase  their  numbers,  and  fight  their  battles." 
No  wonder  Renan  regards  the  Book  of  Joshua  with 
aversion  :  it  upsets  his  theory  of  friendly  Ilittites  help- 
ing enslaved  Israelites,  and  of  their  being  only  about 
a  century  in  Egypt.  As  in  the  case  of  his  objection, 
"  because  Samaria  is  not  mentioned  in  Joshua,"  the 
truth  would  be  jeoparded  if  such  great  changes  were 
represented  to  have  occurred  among  the  Ilittites  of 
Hebron  in  one  short  century.  Clearly,  three  or  four 
centuries  are  none  too  long  to  account  for  the  altered 
condition  of  affairs  ;  for  the  increased  numbers  and 
rooted  hostility  of  those  old  time  friendly  Ilethites. 

Home  again  in  Palestine,  therefore,  is  to  be  among 
enemies,  fierce  and  well-armed,  with  walled  cities  for 


106  ISRAEL  IN  PALESTINE. 

defence,  very  unlike  the  condition  in  wliicli  Abraliam 
found  tlie  country,  when,  with  three  hundred  and 
eighteen  trained  servants,  he  defeated  Chedorlaoiner 
and  his  alHes,  who  for  thirteen  years  had  received 
their  tribute,  and  for  non-payment  of  it,  ravaged  and 
devastated  tlieir  villages  and  carried  the  inhabitants 
captive.  Yet  within  about  a  century  they  are  enabled 
to  cope  with  Joshua  and  stoutly  resist  the  settlement 
of  Israel  in  tlieir  country!  Here  again  the  facts  of 
Genesis  14:th  accord  with  those  of  Joshua  lOth.  And 
while  they  say  nothing  about  the  length  of  time  which 
must  have  intervened  between  the  two  accounts,  it 
devolves  upon  M.  Renan  to  explain  how  things  could 
have  so  changed  in  about  a  century.  He  says,  '^  The 
period  is  obscure,"  but  not  too  obscure  for  2  +  2  to 
equal  four  ;  not  too  obscure  to  be  famous  for  heroic 
deeds  ;  to  be  illumined  with  the  fires  of  burning  cities  ; 
to  witness  the  wonders  of  the  same  God  who  had  called 
Abraham  from  Ur  to  settlement  in  Canaan.  It  surely 
was  no  greater  marvel  to  hear  that  Yoice  in  Chaldea 
than  to  see  that  Hand  in  Palestine.  Failing  to  see 
this  makes  it  hard  for  Renan  to  believe  Joshua  to  be 
thoroughly  historical.  That  book,  true  in  its  omis- 
sions, which  the  objector  deplores,  is  equally  true  in 
those  affirmations  wliicli  he  doubts.  Had  we  other 
and  contemporary  histories  narrating  the  same  events, 
perhaps  he  would  not  as  soon  believe  the  legendary  age 
of  Greece,  "  the  greatest  miracle  in  history  !  For  the 
golden  age  of  the  Aryans  is  only  a  dream  when  com- 
pared with  the  patriarchal."  Now  it  is  certain  that 
no  clearer  light  shines  upon  the  page  of  early  Aryan 
history  than  upon  that  of  Israel  at  this  era.     There 


MIRACULOUS  EVENTS.  1U7 

was  stubborn  strength  in  Hebrew  tnind  and  muscle 
then,  or  those  deeds  of  prowess  never  couhl  have  been 
wrouirht.  Israelis  "  exclusive  tendencies"  do  not  ex- 
plain  her  heroic  achievements  ;  and  something  more 
than  ''  fanaticism"  was  needed  to  enable  her  to  cross 
the  Jordan  after  defeating  her  eastern  foes,  and  go  in 
to  occupy  the  lands  and  fenced  cities  of  hostile  tribes 
who  had  been  alarmed  and  aroused  at  what  they  heard. 
Let  those  who  extol  the  golden  age  of  Aryans  not  for- 
get the  '^  fanaticism  and  exclusiveness"  of  Greece, 
that  called  all  the  rest  of  mankind  barbarians  ;  that 
Athens  in  her  glory  held  two  or  three  hundred  thou- 
sand human  slaves  ;  that  she  was  venial  enough  to  be 
bought  and  sold,  now  by  the  gold  of  Persia  and  now 
by  the  hirelings  of  Macedonia.  Surely  the  great  men 
of  Israel  had  no  larger  defects  of  character  than  the 
great  men  of  Greece.  If  "  the  hardness  and  brutal 
abruptness  of  Xapoleon  were  part  and  parcel  of  his 
force,"  the  meekness  and  learning  of  Moses  and  the 
valor  and  strategy  of  Joshua  were  part  and  parcel  of 
their  force.  And  they  succeeded  in  advancing  a 
movement  which  swept  the  world  along  with  it.  The 
effects  of  those  moral  forces  which  they  accelerated 
we,  in  fact,  feel  to-day.  Whether  or  not  Abraham 
was  the  Oiham  of  Vir^  he  was  a  character  and  a  power 
in  Palestine,  which  raised  the  standard  of  morals,  sim- 
plified ideas  of  religion  and  of  God,  gave  a  legislation 
and  a  literature  to  his  country  which  have  blessed  the 
world.  Such  are  the  ideas,  facts,  and  characters  which 
constitute  the  early  history  of  Israel.  As  a  man  must 
live  before  his  biography  can  be  written,  so  must  a 
nation  exist  before  its  history  is  recorded.      In  the  case 


108  ISRAEL  IN  PALESTINE. 

of  Jacob,  his  Bible  grew  up  with  him.  His  life, 
thoughts,  and  rehgion  form  liis  liistory  ;  it  is  what  tlie 
founclcr  acliievecl,  what  the  legisUitor  enacted,  and  the 
great  warrior  accomphshed.  AVe  have  enough  duly 
anthenticated  of  the  life,  work,  and  influence  of  eacli 
to  stamp  tliem  as  real  characters  as  was  Alexander  the 
Great,  or  Julius  Csesar. 

Moreover,  a  marked  peculiarity  of  Israel  is  an  abid- 
ing sense  of  the  Divine  presence  and  power.  We  see 
it  in  the  call  of  Abraham  ;  in  the  birth  of  Isaac  and 
a  spiritual  kingdom,  wliich  was  confirmed  at  Peniel 
and  at  Bethel  ;  in  the  Divine  voice  wliich  spoke  at 
Ur  and  at  Sinai  ;  in  each  it  was  just  as  siqyerw^twY^l 
as  the  w^onders  of  the  Exodus  and  the  settlement  in 
Canaan.  Joshua  is  no  more  miraculous  than  Moses  ; 
and  Moses  was  hardly  more  wonderful  than  the  mani- 
festations seen  by  Jacob.  From  his  ilight  to  Padan- 
aram  to  his  wrestling  with  the  Angel  of  God,  which 
Ewald  transmutes  into  a  ghost  or  spirit  of  the  night  ; 
and  from  that  grand  theophany  to  ^the  famine  which 
sent  him  to  Egypt,  where  he  found  his  long-lost  son, 
the  hand  of  God  may  be  seen  in  each  event  of  his  life. 
Tlieophanies  form  the  striking  portraiture  of  the 
brightest  parts  of  Israel's  history.  It  is  God  who  fed 
him  and  led  him  through  all  his  one  hundred  and  forty- 
seven  years  of  life's  pilgrimage.  Naturally,  therefore, 
may  we  look  for  the  supernatural  in  the  Home  again  and 
settlement  in  Palestine.  It  is  only  the  outcome  and 
sequence  of  what  preceded. 

Forgetting  and  ignoring  this,  Penan  "  would  print 
his  pages  with  different  shades  of  ink,  in  order  to  mark 
the   vaiions    degrees   of  probability,   ])lausibility,  and 


MIBACULOUS  EVENTS.  109 

possibility"  of  their  contents  (p.  18).  Yes,  of  tlic 
contents  of  liis  pngcs,  but  not  of  the  pages  of  an 
authenticated  Joshua.  For  wliile  "  the  great  men  of 
remote  antiquity  may  be  depicted  without  diminishing 
their  proportions  ;  since  a  giant,  even  when  placed  in 
the  background  of  a  picture,  is  still  a  giant,"  quite 
enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  Renan  delights  in 
])lacing  our  Bible  giants  too  far  in  the  background  of 
his  picture,  and  to  conceal  their  massive  proportions. 
He  suggests  doubts  about  Moses,  which  the  narrative 
disproves,  because  he  assumes  the  accounts  were  writ- 
ten some  centuries  after  his  death  (p.  20).  So  he 
paints  Joshua,  Samuel,  and  David  in  colors  to  express 
his  own  ideas  of  them.  This  is  not  history,  but  Jds 
story,  a  rhapsody  of  conceits  and  inductions,  "  in 
order  to  know  how  things  might  have  happened." 
But  the  alleged  obscurity  of  Joshua's  era  may  be 
judged  by  the  fact  that  it  followed  the  Augustan  era 
of  Egypt,  whose  Pharaoh  had  just  made  a  treaty 
of  alliance  with  the  Khatti  or  Ilittites  of  Syria, 
which  is  given  in  the  ancient  inscriptions,  and  that 
Shalmaneser  I.  had  begun  those  incursions  southwest 
of  the  Euphrates,  which  his  successors  continued  till 
Syria,  Phoenicia,  and  Palestine  w^ere  subdued  and  ab- 
sorbed. 

In  Israel's  forty  years'  w^anderings,  which  Well- 
hausen  says  "  were  not  m voluntary,"  the  tribes  were 
preparing  for  their  grand  attacks  on  the  Canaan- 
ites.  They  crossed  the  Jordan  in  a  most  unexpected 
manner.  A  Divine  power  held  it  back.  It  seemed 
to  be  miraculous,  and  was  so  thought,  and  so  recorded 
for  after  ages.      It  has  remained  for  the  naturalism  of 


110  ISRAEL  IN  PALESTINE. 

oiir  day  to  explain  that  passage  without  a  miracle. 
And  the  action  taken  at  the  time  under  Joshua  is,  to 
say  the  least,  unaccountable,  if  it  did  not  emphasize 
this  belief  of  God^s  Hand  working  for  Israel.  The 
first  chapter  of  the  Book  which  narrates  his  deeds,  is 
better  authority  than  any  modern  guesses.  It  repre- 
sents Jahveh  speaking  to  the  new  leader  and  telling 
him  what  to  do.  Tlie  people  were  to  prepare  three 
days'  victuals,  and  pass  over  Jordan  to  go  in  to  possess 
the  land  which  the  Lord  gave  them  (verse  11).  Then 
spies  were  sent  to  view  the  country  about  Jericho, 
which  was  first  to  be  taken.  They  came  pretty  near 
failing  in  their  errand,  but  were  saved  by  the  strategy 
of  a  woman,  and  so  returned  with  a  good  report  to 
the  camp  at  Shittim  (ch.  2  :  1-21:).  This  is  told  with 
the  sequence  and  naturalness  which  are  guarantee 
of  truth.  Chapter  3  describes  the  passage  of  the 
River  in  a  quiet,  matter-of-fact  style,  without  a  word 
of  astonishment  ;  bat  it  giv^es  two  names  which  are 
rejected  by  modern  critics,  who  will  not  allow  any 
Ferizzites  and  Girgashites  to  be  then  in  Palestine,  and 
do  not  understand  why  the  great  Khatti  people  should 
have  a  fragment  of  their  number  west  of  the  Jordan  ! 
Well,  suppose  some  transcriber  has  made  a  mistake  in 
those  names,  or  that  M.  Kenan  is  mistaken  in  his  por- 
traiture of  Ilittites  in  Hebron  and  in  Zoan^  still,  the 
passage  of  the  Jordan  by  Israel  is  a  fact  of  their  his- 
tory, and  their  attack  upon  the  inhabitants  of  Jericho 
is  so  well  attested  that  it  is  universally  admitted.  But 
something  was  done  of  a  religious  character  at  which 
some  men  cavil  ;  Joshua  set  up  a  memorial  of  twelve 
stones  taken  from  the  bed  of  Jordan,  according  to  the 


MIRACULOUS  EVENTS.  Ill 

number  of  tlie  tribes,  to  be  a  sign  to  after  generations 
that  Jahveh  cut  off  the  waters  and  so  let  Israel  pass 
over  in  safety.  And  the  people  went  up  from  the  Jor- 
dan on  the  tenth  of  the  first  month,  and  encamped  in 
Gilgal,  in  the  east  border  of  Jericlio  (ch.  4  :  19-24). 
The  hand  of  the  Lord  was  in  it.  That  cromlech  testi- 
fied of  it.  The  covenant  was  renewed  at  Giliral  ; 
circumcision  was  administered,  a  religious  festival  was 
solemnized  with  the  fruits  and  flour  of  the  land,  and  the 
manna  ceased  thereafter.  It  is  all  recorded  in  chapter 
5,  and  is  often  spoken  of  by  eighth-century  prophets. 
The  vision  of  a  man  with  a  drawn  sword,  who  an- 
nounced himself  ^'  captain  of  the  Lord's  host,"  deeply 
impressed  Joshua,  and  he  paid  him  reverence  ;  but 
there  is  nothing  more  extraordinary  in  that  vision  than 
in  certain  appearances  to  Moses.  Surely  that  crom- 
lech would  not  offend  the  god  of  those  Canaanites  who 
had  a  sacred  mound  at  Gilgal,  for  it  did  not  intrude 
irreverently  upon  the  old  sanctuary.  And  the  God 
whom  Israel  thus  honored  claimed  to  be  Lord  of  the 
whole  earth.  But,  says  Renan,  "  It  was  afterward 
supposed  that  in  these  megalithic  monuments  had  been 
found  a  souvenir  of  tXiQoairacidotcs passage  of  the  Jor- 
dan" (p.  201).  What  less  could  it  be  ?  Those  Ca- 
naanites have  left  no  inscriptions  to  designate  the  pur- 
pose of  their  megalithic  piles,  while  here  the  purpose 
and  end  are  defined,  viz.,  that  the  God  of  all  the  earth 
might  be  glorified  (Josh.  4  :  14,  24).  Because  any 
part  of  those  events  were  then  recorded  in  the  "  Book 
of  Jasher,"  or  in  the  "  Wars  of  Jahveh,"  is  surely 
no  reason  for  doubting  their  truth.  That  they  were 
subsequently  incorporated  into    the   Book  of   Joshua 


112  ISRAEL  IN  PALESTINE. 

and  repeated  in  Judges,  as  Wellliausen  states,  is,  in 
fact,  a  confirmation  of  their  supposed  accuracy.  What 
reader  of  Diodorus  does  not  regret  that  historian's 
omission  of  his  authorities  for  the  story  of  Damon  and 
Pythias  ^  It  might  have  removed  the  seeming  uncer- 
tainty whether  Dionysius  the  Elder,  or  Dionysius  the 
Younger,  ordered  the  surety  to  execution,  and  whether 
that  ilhistration  of  loyal  friendship  was  a  contrivance 
devised  by  anti-Pythagorians,  or  a  natural  occurrence 
which  really  astonished  the  tyrant  and  others  who  wit- 
nessed it.  After  going  over  all  the  Greek  and  Latin 
authors  who  relate  that  incident,  I  feel  safe  in  saying 
that  it  requires  as  much  logic  and  inference  to  digest 
and  correctly  reproduce  it  for  English  readers  as  any 
incident  in  Joshua  or  Judges. 

Dr.  Geikie,  who  lately  visited  "  the  Holy  Land," 
relates  how  Gilgal  was  rediscovered  by  a  German 
traveller,  who  heard  the  Arabs  pronounce  the  words 
Tell  Jiljal  and  Birket  Jiljalia — the  former  a  mound 
over  the  ancient  town,  and  the  latter  its  pond  (vol.  ii., 
p.  91).  It  was  the  ph\ce  where  the  Israelites  under 
Joshua  erected  a  circle  of  twelve  stones  taken  from 
the  bed  of  Jordan  to  commemorate  its  wonderful  pas- 
sage. Dr.  Geikie  says,  "  Within  a  mile  of  the  pond 
are  about  a  dozen  mounds,  three  or  four  feet  high, 
which  may  be  the  remains  of  the  fortified  camp  of  the 
Israelites."  Captain  Conder  supposes  those  stones 
were  set  up  like  a  Druidical  circle,  forming  a  rude 
sanctuary  like  the  numerous  rings  of  huge  stones  still 
found  in  Moab  and  other  countries.  However  that 
may  be,  the  text  says  that  twelve  men  who  represented 
the  different  tribes  took  each  his  stone  for  that  pur- 


MIRACULOUS  EVENTS.  113 

pose.  It  is  mere  mference  that  those  men  had  helpers 
to  carry  a  very  large  stone  ;  and  certainly  twelve  such 
stones  as  might  be  taken  from  the  bed  of  Jordan  would 
make  but  a  small  pile  for  a  circle-sanctuary.  Perhaps 
that  altar  built  of  whole  stones  mentioned  in  chapter 
8  :  30-35,  is  confounded  l)y  Captain  Conder  with  this 
at  Gilgal.  The  last  part  of  verse  4,  chapter  3,  "  for  ye 
have  not  passed  this  way  heretofore,"  confirms  the 
whole  account.  They  are  words  which  no  late  writer 
could  have  penned  ;  the  Levitical  procession  was  to  be 
duly  spaced  and  to  proceed  cautiously  by  the  way,/br 
they  had  not  passed  that  way  Ijefore.  So  naturally 
put,  these  words  prove  the  record.  Preparation  was 
carefully  made,  yet  Divine  aid  was  expected  in  the 
passage  ;  for  the  Loud  of  all  the  earth  was  to  pass 
over  before  them  (verse  11).  The  fact  of  that  won- 
derful crossing  over  Jordan  is  as  well  established  as  the 
passage  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  it  was  attested  to  all  Israel 
in  aftertimes  by  the  dolmen  or  cromlech  of  stones 
taken  from  the  river's  bed  and  set  up  at  Gilgal.  It 
was  in  accordance  with  the  custom  of  the  times  and  of 
the  country.  So  was  the  altar  of  whole  stones  erected 
by  Joshua  at  Mount  Ebal,  on  which  he  wrote  a  copy 
of  the  law  of  Moses  in  the  presence  of  the  children  of 
Israel.  Moreover,  on  an  outer  wall  of  the  temple  at 
Karnak,  in  the  previous  century,  the  treaty  of  peace 
between  Egypt  and  Kliita  land  was  written.  It  is 
translated  in  "Records  of  the  Past,"  vol.  iv.,  pp. 
25-32.  Rameses  II.  married  a  daughter  of  the  Kbit? 
king,  and  thus  happily  closed  the  long  feud  between 
those  peoples.  Ilamathite  hieroglyphics  which  be- 
long to  about  this  time  show  Jahveh  was  known   by 


114  ISRAEL  IN  PALESTINE. 

name  at  Ilamath  ;  so  Sclirader.  Any  doubts  wliether 
those  Kliatti  are  the  same  race  as  the  Ilittites  of  Ca- 
naan cannot  change  the  facts  which  Joshua  created, 
nor  his  memorials  of  them.  Tiie  change  of  Ilethites 
into  Ilittites  may  at  first  have  been  local. 

Whether  the  Canaanites  originally  came  from  a 
Babylonian  centre,  like  the  Phoenicians,  and  the  He- 
brews, who  migrated  later,  does  not  concern  the  fact 
that  Joshua  found  them  hostile,  and  routed  them  in 
different  Palestine  centres.  As  in  the  time  of  Abra- 
ham so  now,  there  appeared  to  be  no  difficulty  in  un- 
derstanding each  otlier.  They  may  also  have  been 
originally  worshippers  of  one  God,  as  was  Melchizedec, 
but  they  debased  and  corrupted  their  worship  to  sucli 
a  degree  that  it  became  an  abhorrence  to  Jahveh,  and 
their  immoralities  were  detestable.  The  iniquity  of 
the  Amorite  was  now  full.  They  were  not  slain  with- 
out warning,  nor  proscribed  without  cause.  God  who 
created  the  world  and  man  left  him  not  uninstructed 
in  his  duty  and  how  to  live  righteously.  His  worship 
of  Baal,  Chemosh,  or  Molech,  if  offered  in  sincerity, 
purity,  and  truth,  would  doubtless  have  been  accepted 
by  Him  who  was  God  over  all.  But  the  religious 
practice  of  those  peoples  had  become  an  abomination 
in  the  sight  of  Heaven  and  a  degradation  in  its  dev- 
otees. Jahveh  would  no  longer  tolerate  it.  Physical 
and  spiritual  forces  should  co-operate  in  its  destruction 
and  extirpation.  Prometheus  bound,  yet  uttering  de- 
fiance against  Jupiter,  as  in  classic  legend,  illustrates 
the  stubborn  persistency  with  which  those  Canaanites 
continued  in  their  wickedness.  Their  rapid  increase, 
their  skill,  their  walled  towns  ;  Jabin,  with  his  nine 


MIRACULOUS  EVENTS.  115 

hundred  chariots  of  iron,  the  giant  Anakiiris  of  tlie 
mountains  ;  these  were  not  to  be  confjuered  bj  the 
^'  enthusiastic  eUin"  of  Israel,  unless  the  God  of  Israel 
went  before  them.  Superior  in  culture  and  civiliza- 
tion to  the  Israelites,  Jahveh,  God  of  Israel,  caused 
them  to  fear  Him.  Retreating  seas,  divided  rivers, 
falling  walls,  jea,  the  orbs  of  heaven  seemingly  halt- 
ing in  their  courses  ;  these  were  scarcely  more  won- 
derful or  destructive  than  the  thunderbolt  and  the 
hailstorm  which  beat  down  wicked  Canaanites.  Ad- 
mitting Joshua's  care  in  preparations  and  the  enthusi- 
astic elan  of  his  troops,  there  were  yet  clear  evidences 
to  them  and  the  men  of  that  day  that  the  Almighty 
God  led  them,  inspired  their  courage,  strengthened 
their  arm,  and  achieved  their  victories. 

The  reasons  for  such  belief,  like  Wren's  monument 
in  St.  Paul's,  were  to  be  seen  all  around  them  ;  in  the 
deeds  they  wrought,  in  the  cities  they  captured,  in  the 
terror  of  the  enemy,  and  in  memorable  indications  of 
Omnipotence  and  natural  phenomena  co-operating  with 
Israel's  force.  Tliere  were  human  force,  natural  force, 
and  Divine  force  all  conspiring  to  one  end,  or,  rather, 
two  ends  :  victory  for  the  Hebrews  and  acknowledg- 
ment of  their  God  by  all  the  people  of  that  land  and 
of  the  nations  round  about. 

Now  the  critics  and  ledactors  of  holy  Scripture  re- 
quire us  to  believe  that  Egyptian  and  Assyrian  annal- 
ists have  correctly  recorded  the  deeds  of  their  kings  ; 
Greek  historians  portray  the  wonders  achieved  by  the 
Spartan  band,  by  the  heroes  of  Thermopylee  and  the 
defenders  of  Athens  ;  so  of  Xlonum,  German,  French, 
and  English,  not  to  say  our  American,  history,  we  are 


116  ISRAEL  IN  PALESTINE. 

expected  to  credit  ail  that  is  related  as  history.  And 
when  based  upon  orio^inal  and  contemporary  docu- 
ments, those  accounts  may  generally  be  accepted  as 
true.  Why,  then,  should  we  not  believe  the  Hebrew 
writers  in  wliat  they  say  touching  the  history,  the  Law, 
and  the  predictions  of  Israel  ?  They  are  as  consistent 
and  consequent,  as  logical,  and  no  more  repetitious 
than  other  primitive  records.  And  they  are  pene- 
trated through  and  through  with  a  purity  and  a  piety 
quite  unique  and  national. 

In  Joshua  and  Caleb,  in  Othniel  and  Barak,  in 
Gideon,  Jephthah,  and  Samson  the  religiousness  and 
the  patriotism  are  strongly  marked.  Redactions  do 
not  change  it  ;  but  in  the  classic  accounts  of  Damon 
and  Pythias,  Brutus  and  Cato,  Pyrrhus  and  Cgesar,  it 
would  be  as  difficult  to  find  the  presence  and  operation 
of  a  religious  impulse  as  in  Timur  and  Napoleon. 
Yet  in  many  Hebrews,  even  their  faults  often  arose 
from  mistaken  views  of  religion.  The  accompani- 
ments of  the  proclamation  of  the  Law  at  Sinai  were 
much  more  than  "  dramatic."  Divine  voices  and 
forces  intensified  what  was  of  lasting  interest.  The 
ninth  century  b.c.  could  not  have  produced  it.  Even 
Elijah  was  a  product  of  the  Law  of  the  Covenant,  not 
the  Covenant  a  product  of  his  age.  Sanmel  and 
Nathan,  Gad  and  Micaiah,  found  their  inspiration  from 
the  Law.  It  was  by  it  and  by  Him  who  gave  it  that 
prophets  caused  kings  to  tremble  on  their  thrones,  and 
to  ask  what  the  King  of  kings  woukl  have  them  to 
do  ?  To  build  an  altar,  a  temple,  to  offer  a  thousand 
bullocks  and  rams,  lambs  almost  without  number  and 
incense  in  great  weight,  was  small  tribute  to  the  Lokd 


MIRACULOUS  EVENTS.  117 

of  the  whole  earth.  Thus  Israel's  shrines  ai)d  holy 
places  were  so  many  npliftings  and  endeavors  after 
righteousness,  from  Shecheni  and  Jjothel  to  Sinai  and 
Sion,  for  at  each  Jahveh  manifested  the  grandeur  of 
His  person  as  well  as  the  grace  and  goodness  of  11  is 
character.  Carmel  and  Iloreb  spoke  of  God.  Tliere 
the  Hebrews  found  an  Olympns  ;  a  monnt  of  sacrifice 
and  Divine  epiphanies  which  attested  the  authority  of 
the  messages  and  of  the  prophets  who  uttered  them. 
If  Nnma  claimed  to  be  visited  by  a  goddess  who  tanglit 
him,  if  Brahmans  claimed  inspiration  for  the  Veda,  if 
Socrates  claimed  to  hold  converse  with  the  Deity,  a 
thousandfold  stronger  reasons  had  the  teachers  of 
Israel  for  claiming  inspiration  and  direction  from  the 
Almighty.  This  impelled  Abraham  to  a  new  depart- 
ure ;  it  animated  Jacob  for  a  hundred  years  ;  it  revo- 
lutionized the  career  of  Moses,  sent  him  from  the  desert 
to  the  throne  of  Pharaoh,  enabled  him  to  perform 
w^onders  in  Egypt,  to  deliver  his  enslaved  people,  and 
lead  them  to  the  Mount  of  God.  There  Jahveh  gave 
him  a  civil  and  religious  code,  the  Law  of  the  Cove- 
nant, which  for  breadth  and  brevity,  fulness  and  con- 
ciseness, still  remains  unparalleled.  Given  in  that 
age,  to  that  people,  under  those  conditions,  it  bears  on 
its  face  the  stamp  of  a  Divine  Proclamation  to  man- 
kind. There  was  nothing  in  India,  Crreece,  Pome, 
Egypt,  Babylon,  which  erpialled  it,  certainly  iu>thing 
to  surpass  it.  Not  a  clause  of  that  Covenant  Law  has 
heen  repealed  ;  nor  does  it  contain  a  supertluous  sen- 
tence for  men  in  the  highest  state  of  civilization  and 
culture.  Those  fifteen  verses  of  Exodus  20  are  the  Laws 
of  God  to  man.     Thev  have  iruided  the  decisions  of 


118  ISRAEL  IN  PALESTINE, 

judges  and  seei's  as  embodying  the  principles  of  liiinian 
conduct  ;  they  liav^e  inspired  the  songs  of  poets  and 
tlie  tlioiights  of  philosophers  ;  they  hav^e  curbed  the 
passions  of  savage  men  and  bridled  the  anger  of  kings  ; 
for  in  them  God  spoke  to  man  from  Sinai.  The  cloud 
and  the  thunder  have  long  passed  away,  but  the  Words 
then  spoken  will  abide  forever.  It  was  impossible 
that  they  should  be  forgotten.  I^or  has  human  wis- 
dom yet  devised  a  substitute. 

Moreover,  the  Spirit  and  power  of  Him  who  gave 
that  Law  and  renewed  that  Covenant,  gave  victory  to 
Israel  in  Canaan,  victory  over  Jericho  and  over  Jabin. 
There  was  that  in  them  eno^asred  in  those  contests 
which  certified  to  them  whence  their  prowess  and  their 
triumphs  came.  It  was  confessed  at  the  time  ;  it  was 
ever  conceded  and  so  believed.  We  may  well  marvel 
that  while  modern  writers  affirm  the  superiority  of 
Canaanites  in  arts  and  arms  over  Israel,  and  acknowl- 
edge the  prodigies  of  valor  which  they  achieved,  they 
are  content  to  attribute  those  astounding  victories  to 
Israel's  ''enthusiastic  elan.^^  Even  those  who  sur- 
vived defeat  and  destruction  allowed  themselves  to  be 
"  absorbed"  by  the  invaders  in  their  own  country. 
They  had  no  Alfred  with  a  brave  Saxon  band  among 
them  ;  no  William  Tell  and  Swiss  heroes  who  should 
annihilate  the  foreign  foe  !  Art  and  culture  those 
Canaanites  may  have  had,  hnt  no pat?'iotis?n  ;  for  God 
had  given  away  their  lands  to  a  people  who  would 
better  serve  Him,  and  hence  patriotism  in  the  old 
inhabitants  died  out,  and  their  civilization  with  it. 
Yet  Wellhausen  feebly  explains  those  facts  of  history 
by  saying,  "  The  extraordinary  disintegrated  state  of 


MIRACULOUS  EVENTS.  Ill) 

tlic  country  accounts  for  the  ease  witli  wliicli  the  Ls- 
raehtcs  achieved  their  success  !"  ("  Encyclopaedia 
Biitannicn,"  ad  loc.)  But  tlie  In'story  which  narrates 
tlie  victories  of  Israel  also  narrates  the  cond)inations 
among  the  Canaanites  :  "  When  all  the  kings  which 
were  on  this  side  Jordan,  in  the  hills,  and  in  the 
valleys,  and  in  all  the  coasts  of  the  great  sea  over  against 
Lebanon,  the  llittite  and  Aniorite,  the  Canaanite  and 
Perizzite,  the  Hivite  and  Jebusite,  lieard  thereof  [the 
taking  of  Jericho  and  Ai],  they  gathered  themselves  to- 
gether ^  with  one  accord  to  fight  with  Joshua,'''^  (ch. 
9  :  1,  2).  But  the  Gibeonites,  by  stratagem,  made  a 
league  with  Israel  in  order  to  save  their  lives,  although 
their  city  was  a  greater  and  better  defended  city  than 
Ai.  "  Wherefore  the  king  of  Jerusalem  sent  unto 
the  king  of  Hebron,  and  unto  the  king  of  Jarmuth, 
and  unto  the  king  of  Lachish,  and  unto  the  king  of 
Eglon,  saying.  Come  and  help  me,  that  we  may  smite 
Gibeon  ;  for  it  hath  made  peace  with  Joshua  and  with 
the  children  of  Israel.  Therefore  these  five  kings 
gathered  all  their  hosts  together,  and  encamped  before 
Gibeon  ;  and  made  war  against  it "  (Josh.  10  :  1-5). 
That  certainly  indicates  a  strong  coinVination  for  re- 
sistance, the  very  reverse  of  an  "  extraordinary  disin- 
tegrated state  of  the  country."  Yet  Joshua  marched 
boldly  against  them,  and  the  Lord  discomlited  them 
before  Israel,  with  a  great  slaughter  at  Gibeon,  and 
along  the  way  to  Beth-horon,  Azekah,  even  unto  Mak- 
kedah.  Also  the  Lord  sent  a  great  hailstorm,  cast 
down  great  stones  from  heaven  upon  them,  and  they 
died  (verses  7-11).  More  died  with  hailstones  than 
with  the  sword  of  the  children  of  Israel.      The  victory 


120  ISRAEL  IN  PALESTINE. 

was  further  memorable  for  Joshua's  prayer  to  tlie  Lord 
for  a  lengthening  of  the  day — i.e.,  for  continued  op- 
portunity in  which  to  linish  his  conquests  over  those 
combined  Canaanites,  and  to  leave  them  in  an  utterly 
*' disintegrated  state."  The  account  of  this  marvel 
seems  to  have  been  written  at  the  time,  and  was  later 
incorporated  into  our  record  of  Joshua's  deeds. 
Kenan's  explanation  is  elsewhere  considered.  We  as- 
suredly ought  not  to  tone  down  the  marvel  of  nature, 
much  less  discard  the  account,  simply  because  it  is 
marvellous  and  taken  from  the  Book  of  Jasher  (verse 
13).  Recent  accounts  tell  us  of  unexpected  and  ter- 
rific hailstorms  occurring  in  that  region.  And  the 
unusual  phenomena  of  protracted  light  or  protracted 
darkness  might  impress  surviving  Canaanites  with  the 
supremacy  of  the  God  of  Israel  over  all  the  gods  they 
worshipped  even  more  deeply  than  the  terrible  de- 
struction wrought  by  Joshua.  Baal,  Chemosh,  Molech, 
were  only  different  names  for  the  heaven-gods  in  that 
country.  And  this  interference  with  their  authority, 
making  them,  in  fact,  do  service  to  the  enemy,  was  a 
defeat  of  the  deities  of  Canaan  as  disastrous,  in  the 
people's  estimation,  as  the  arms  of  the  invaders.  This 
view  tones  down  no  text,  and  it  is  in  accord  with  the 
providence  of  God  over  men.  They  are  not  pro- 
scril)ed  or  slain  by  Him  till  the  end  calls  for  it,  till 
clemency  is  lost  upon  obduracy.  But  whatever  ex- 
planation we  accept  of  this  Divine  interposition  for 
man,  it  would  seem  that  the  (piotation  f rom  "  Jasher" 
was  indorsement  of  that  part  of  the  book,  which  is 
also  referred  to  in  2  Samuel  1  :  18.  The  whole  is  of  a 
piece    with   the   history    of   Israel    in    Canaan.     The 


MIRACULOUS  EVENTS.  121 

Creator  of  mam's  also  his  Ruler  and  liis  Jiid<T^e.  Pre- 
rogative implies  duty  and  responsibility  in  its  exercise. 
There  is  nothing  contradictory  in  its  manifestation 
here.  The  light  of  the  sun  was  silent,  and  the  moon 
delayed  to  shine,  till  Israel  had  triumphed  over  the 
enemies  of  Jahveh.  The  consistency  of  the  record  is 
in  marked  contrast  with  the  contradictions  of  Well- 
hausen,  who  repeatedly  '^  annihilates  Simeon  and 
Levi,"  yet  makes  them  settlers  in  Ephraim,  though 
he  had  destroyed  them  after  having  avenged  the  dis- 
honor of  Dinah!  For  '^the  Canaanites  of  the  sur- 
rounding country  combined  against  them"  (p.  400, 
article  ^'  Israel,"  in  ''  Encyclopaedia  Britannica").  It 
illustrates  the  lowest  form  of  criticism.  So  does  Renan 
when  he  says,  "  The  territory  of  Benjamin  was  con- 
fined almost  exclusively  to  the  hill  of  Gibeah"  (p.  293). 
Yet  w^e  know  that  Benjamin  had  by  lot  twenty -six  cities 
or  towns,  and  the  country  adjacent  to  them  (Josh. 
18  :  10-28)  ;  Gibeon  and  Jericho,  Mizpeh  and  Jeru- 
salem being  of  that  number.  It  was  the  tribe  which 
gave  the  first  king  to  Israel.  Nor  does  Renan  allow 
any  strong  inter-tribal  feeling  to  exist  among  that  peo- 
ple :  ''  ADanitewould  never  slay  a  Danite,  he  would 
always  avenge  him  ;  but  a  Danite  would  ill-treat  a 
Zebulonite"  (p.  299).  Then  he  adds,  "There  was  a 
bond  of  fraternity  between  Israelites.  In  others  every 
Hebrew  would  sec  an  enemy."  Why,  then,  tell  us 
that  Israel  ahsorbed  those  Canaanites  whom  she  did 
not  destroy  ?  For  long  they  dwelt  in  the  land  of 
Megiddo,  Gezer,  Kitron,  Nahalol,  Accho,  Zidon, 
Ahlab,  and  other  places  named  in  Judges  1  :  27-35  ; 
they  became  tributaries,  not  enemies,  and  there  were 
6 


122  ISRAEL  IN  PALESTINE. 

too  often  intermarriages  among  them.  To  the  time 
of  David  the  Jebusites  dwelt  with  tlie  Benjamites  in 
Jerusalem  imabsorbed  (Judges  1  :  21).  On  the  other 
hand,  a  severe  punishment  was  inflicted  upon  Ephraim- 
ites  by  the  men  of  Gilead  ;  every  man  of  them  wlio 
dropped  his  "  h"  in  Shibboleth  was  slain  ;  and  there 
fell  of  the  Ephraimites  forty  and  two  thousand  (Judges 
12  :  6).  It  was  probably  the  outcome  of  an  old  stand- 
ing feud  between  them  and  the  Manassehites,  which 
culminated  in  the  terril)le  slaughter  by  Jephthah  of  the 
proud  Ephraimites  at  the  fords  of  Jordan,  because 
they  objected  to  his  going  to  war  against  Ammon 
without  their  co-operation.  They  were  detected  by 
their  /S^z'Z^boleths  and  put  to  death  (Judges  12  :  1-6). 
Chapter  20  details  the  chastisement  which  the  as- 
sembled tribes  inflicted  upon  Benjamin  for  the  outrage 
ujDon  a  Levite's  concubine  ;  and  there  fell  on  that  oc- 
casion twenty-five  thousand  Benjamites  who  drew 
the  sword,  all  men  of  valor  (verse  46).  No  ;  the  his- 
tory of  those  tribes  cannot  be  written  in  broad  general- 
izations. That  tribe  which  then  was  almost  extir- 
pated gave  the  first  king  to  Israel  ;  with  Judali  it  sur- 
vived the  other  ten  ;  gave  St.  Paul  to  the  Church  ; 
while  of  Dan,  who  was  the  expected  Judge  of  his  peo- 
ple, we  hear  little  except  deeds  of  valor  and  apostasy 
from  the  truth  ;  of  his  confiicts  with  the  Amorites  ;  of 
his  frolicking  Samson,  who  was  a  puzzle  to  the  Philis- 
tines and  delighted  in  punishing  them  ;  of  idolatry 
nnder  Jeroboam  ;  in  the  Apocalyptic  vision  of  St. 
John,  Dan  is  omitted  from  among  those  sealed  in  the 
]S"ew  Jerusalem  (Rev.  7  :  4-8).  Thus  Israel  is  unlike 
every   other   people.     She   not  only   experiences  the 


J/ /AM  C  U  L  0  US  E  VhN 7 'S.  Wd 

(lis{)le;i.'^uro  of  lier  God  on  earth,  but  sinks  into  obliv- 
ion, and  tlio  pronn'se  of  restoration  is  not  universal  for 
lier  children.  Her  God  rules  her  in  righteousness. 
He  docs  not  punish  where  punishment  is  not  deserved. 
In  the  days  of  Abraham  the  wicked  cities  of  the 
south  felt  His  heavy  hand,  while  Hebron  and  Salem, 
with  the  chieftain-priest  Melchizedek,  were  in  friendly 
alliance,  and  so  continued  till  the  going  down  to  Egypt. 
On  Israel's  return  things  had  much  changed,  but  tho 
southern  country,  being  most  corrupt,  first  felt  tlip 
power  of  the  avenger.  Thus  fell  tlericho  and  Ai, 
Debir  and  Lachish,  Libnah  and  Makkedah,  with  the 
chiefs  of  thirty  cities,  notwithstanding  their  combina- 
tions and  ^'  enthusiastic  elan"  against  Israel,  also  tho 
kings  east  of  Jordan  (Josh.  12).  Such  victories 
in  those  Israelites  inspired  other  deeds  of  valor  as 
well  as  songs  of  triumph  which  ascribed  the  glory 
to  Jahveh,  who  fought  for  them.  The  Pharaohs  and 
Khatti  kings,  Assyrian  and  Babylonian  monarchs,  even 
Mesha  of  Moab.  in  like  manner  praised  their  gods  for 
their  successes.  We  credit  their  stories  in  the  inscrip- 
tions ;  then  why  not  believe  Hebrew  records  of  Israel's 
deeds  ?  There  is  natural  sequence  in  the  narratives  ot 
IVEoses  and  Joshua,  of  Caleb  and  the  Judges.  Where 
our  science  enables  us  to  account  for  natural  phenom- 
eua  without  a  miracle,  we  may  do  so  without  viulcnce 
to  the  text  ;  l)ut  where  the  text  duly  authenticated  de- 
mands the  interposition  of  Almighty  power  on  behalf 
of  the  chosen  people,  in  Heaven's  name  let  us  acknowl- 
edge it  !  Nescience  of  man  can  measure  all  the  hand 
of  God  in  history.  Did  not  our  Washington  often 
pray  to  Him,  and  often   experience  what  he  believed 


124  ISRAEL  IN  PALESTINE. 

to  be  Divine  liclp  ?  At  the  disaster  of  July  9tli,  1Y55, 
he  was  the  only  aid  who  escaped  wounds  and  death. 
The  stupidity  of  the  British  Government  then  and  the 
blunders  of  some  British  generals  are  a  marvel  when 
considered  in  the  light  of  our  day.  Reverently  may 
we  not  say  that  Providence,  like  a  midwife,  attends 
upon  the  birth  of  nations  ?  The  Creator  rules  and 
overrules  in  the  destiny  of  mankind,  and  all  the  more 
where  His  children  invoke  Him.  The  miraculous  is 
interwoven  w^itli  the  warp  of  Jacob's  history. 

Joshua,  immediately  after  his  first  great  victories, 
built  an  altar  unto  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  in  Mount 
Ebal,  an  altar  of  whole  stones,  as  Moses  wrote  in  the 
book  of  the  law  ;  and  they  offered  burnt-offerings  unto 
the  LoKD,  and  sacrificed  peace-offerings.  Upon  the 
Btones  of  that  altar  was  written  a  copy  of  the  law  of 
Moses,  in  the  presence  of  all  Israel  ;  their  elders,  offi- 
cers, and  judges  stood  on  one  side  of  the  Ark,  and  on 
the  other  side  the  priests  and  Levites,  who  bare  the 
Ark  of  the  Covenant  ;  also  the  strangers  among  them, 
the  women  and  the  children — all  heard  the  words  of 
the  Law  read  (Josh.  8  :  30-35).  They  were  evidently 
a  brave,  devout,  and  intelligent  assendjly  that  there 
ratified  their  belief  in  God,  renewed  the  covenant  with 
Him,  and  worshipped  Him  with  sacrifices  ;  also  the 
stranger  as  well  as  the  Hebrew,  for  the  covenant  ex- 
cluded only  those  who  did  not  accept  and  observe  it. 
God  was  the  Jahveh  of  Israel  and  of  all  who  acknowl- 
edged Him. 

Israel  next  assendded  at  Shiloh,  and  set  up  the  tab- 
ernacle there  ;  the  land  was  subdued  and  divided 
amono-   them   (Josh.   18-21).     Any  reader  of  Joshua 


MIRACULOUS  EVENTS.  125 

must  be  impressed  with  the  provision  made  for  the 
priests  and  Levites.  They  liave  no  one  district  of 
comitry  hke  the  otlier  tribes,  formini^a  community  by 
themselves,  but  are  scattered  through  all  the  land  in 
forty-two  different  towns  west  and  six  towns  east  of 
Jordan.  Thus  they  were  the  educational  force  of  Is- 
rael ;  priests  and  Levites  when  not  on  duty  at  the  tab- 
ernacle-centre were  the  teachers  and  local  judges  of 
their  towns.  They  were  dispensers  of  knowledge  and 
of  judgment  (Lev.  10  :  11  ;  Deut.  19  :  17  ;  Mai.  2  :  Y). 
The  provision  made  for  them  under  Moses  and  Joshua, 
Renan  says,  rendered  them  more  readily  acceptable  to 
the  people  ;  but  he  ignores  the  old-time  dedication  of 
the  first-born  to  Divine  service,  who  were  ransomed 
by  the  consecration  of  the  tribe  of  Levi.  That  the 
Levites  were  favorably  regarded  in  Israel  is  illustrated 
in  Micah  the  Ephraimite,  who  said,  "  Now  know  I 
that  Jahveh  will  do  me  good,  seeing  I  have  a  Levite 
for  my  priest  "  (Judges  17  :  13).  The  episode  in  that 
history  so  fully  harmonizes  with  the  local  state  of  the 
times,  that  critics  generally  allow  it  to  be  of  high  an- 
tiquity. That  the  Danites  induced  that  Levite  to  be- 
come the  priest  of  their  new  tribal  centre,  Laish,  thus 
making  a  clean  sweep  of  all  Micah's  religious  estab- 
lislnnent,  with  its  ephod  and  teraphini,  emphasizes  the 
truth  of  the  incident  and  the  general  esteem  for  the 
Levites  (clis.  17  and  IS).  It  was  the  origin  of  Danite 
local  idolatry,  and  continued  more  or  less  offensively 
until  the  captivity  of  the  land  (18  :  30).  Thus  were 
copied  the  usages  of  the  Zidonian  worship,  but  not 
necessarily  was  that  of  Jahveh  ignored.  Danites  still 
went  up  to  Jerusalem.     They  furnished  David  with 


126  ISRAEL  IN  PALESTINK 

nearly  thirty  thousand  men  of  war.  The  altar  built 
by  the  east  Jordanic  tribes  was  shown  to  be  an  altar 
of  Witness,  not  for  burnt-oHering  nor  for  sacrifice 
(Josh.  22  :  10,  26).  And  this  explanation  was  quite 
satisfactory  to  Phinehas  the  priest  and  the  committee 
of  representatives  of  the  people,  who  inquired  into 
the  reasons  for  that  altar.  The  records  do  not  show 
that  any  ecclesiastical  schism  had  then  occurred.  The 
apostasy  under  Jeroboam  was  much  later. 

When  Joshua  had  grown  old  and  retired  from  ser- 
vice, he  called  all  Israel — the  elders,  judges,  and  ofii- 
cers^-to  hear  his  farewell  address.  In  it  he  recounted 
wJiat  God  had  done  for  them  to  that  day  ;  that  after 
his  death  Jehovah  would  continue  to  watch  over  and 
care  for  them,  failing  in  none  of  His  promises,  if  they 
were  faithful  to  the  covenant  between  them.  At 
Shechem  they  presented  themselves  before  the  Lord, 
with  a  great  stone  of  witness  set  up  by  the  oak  of  the 
sanctuary,  to  certify  that  they  accepted  the  book  of 
the  Law  of  God,  and  chose  Ilim  as  the  God  of  all  the 
people  of  Lsrael.  So  every  man  departed  to  his  in- 
heritance, as  the  servant  of  Jehovah  (chs.  23  and  24). 
The  tabernacle  at  Bethel,  at  Shechem,  at  Shiloh,  was 
the  representative  centre  of  Israel  and  its  worship. 
Thither  the  people  of  all  the  tribes  flocked  at  the  an- 
nual festivals.  Such  occasions  served  to  keep  God  in 
mind  and  heart.  They  could  easily  talk  over  all  their 
national  history,  for  the  memory  of  three  generations 
w^ould  span  the  time  from  Joshua  to  Eli.  They  were 
instructed  in  the  law  of  their  God  and  in  the  wonders 
He  had  wrought  on  their  behalf.  No  important  na- 
tional event  was  overlooked.     No  great  variation  was 


MIRACULOUS  EVENTS.  127 

made  in  its  recital  without  instant  notice.  Our  times, 
with  their  "  three  clays'  wonder,"  are  not  the  standard 
whereby  to  judge  of  Hebrew  afTairs  in  the  twelfth  and 
the  eleventh  century  b.c.  Rather,  they  may  be  com- 
pared in  this  respect  to  the  era  of  Herodotus  in  Greece, 
when  poets,  historians,  and  rhapsodists  recited  the  na- 
tion's songs,  the  nation's  deeds,  and  the  wrongs  she 
had  suffered  from  Persia,  or  some  nearer  foe.  The 
people,  without  books,  well  knew  their  contents,  and 
Homer  was  carried  for  centuries  in  the  living  memories 
of  Greeks.  The  siege  of  Troy  divine  was  a  real 
inspiration  to  them.  Its  influence  upon  Themistocles, 
Herodotus,  and  Pericles,  are  examples  of  what  the  public 
recitation  at  their  great  festivals  of  national  events  in 
narrative,  poem,  or  the  acted  drama  did  for  Greeks  in 
the  fifth  and  sixth  century  b.c.  Similar  vvas  the  effect 
of  the  three  great  annual  meetings  of  Hebrews. 

When  the  Jews  cease  to  be  quick  in  discerning  a 
chance  for  a  bargain,  or  to  understand  debits  and 
credits,  social  and  political  finance,  or  when  their  Dis- 
raelis and  Eothschilds  wholly  fail  them,  then  may  we 
believe  that  Hebrews  from  Joshua  to  Samuel  did  not 
know  the  facts  of  their  history,  nor  whether  Moses 
had  legislated  for  them,  nor  whether  he  gav^e  them  teii 
laws  or  twenty  !  So  long  as  Shakesi^eare's  Shylock  is 
read  will  men  know  that  Jews  understand  bonds  and 
pounds,  even  as  Abraham  did  when  he  weighed  out 
his  shekels  to  the  Hethites  for  the  field  of  Machpelah, 
and  as  Jacob  did  in  making  his  second  bargain  with 
Laban  the  Syrian.  No,  the  reason  of  mankind,  espe- 
cially of  educated  men,  attests  to  the  capacity  of  Is- 
raelit<is.     They  have  memory,  domestic  affection,  pa- 


128  ISRAEL  IN  PALESTINE. 

triotism,  common  sense,  and  when  opportunity  offers 
they  usually  improve  it.  Now  this  was  all  they  need- 
ed to  know  the  conquests  of  Joshua,  to  learn  the  laws 
of  God  to  Moses,  the  story  of  the  patriarchs,  and  the 
songs  of  their  poets.  This  formed  their  national  his- 
tory, and  this  again  was  emphasized  by  the  appearance 
of  angels,  by  the  voice  of  a  speaking  God  who 
wrought  wonders  for  them  in  the  field  of  Zoan,  at  the 
passage  of  the  Red  Sea  and  the  Jordan,  by  the  walls 
of  Jericho,  and  at  the  waters  of  Megiddo.  They  all 
follow  each  other  in  quick  succession,  from  the  vision 
of  Luz  and  the  dreams  of  Joseph  to  the  vision  of  Sam- 
uel about  Eli,  from  the  slaughter  of  the  five  kings  by 
Joshua  to  the  slaying  of  Goliath  by  David.  From 
Moses  onward  the  Ark  of  the  tabernacle  was  with  men, 
accessible  to  all  who  should  ask  counsel  and  guidance 
at  it.  And  it  was  made  the  duty  of  the  priests  to  j)re- 
serve  and  communicate  religious  knowledge.  At 
Shiloh,  at  Nob,  in  all  the  forty-eight  districts  assigned 
them,  their  light  shone  out  to  Israel.  Properly  may 
the  Jews  brand  as  libellers  of  their  race  any  writers 
who  would  have  men  suppose  that  from  the  Exodus  to 
Solomon  the  Hebrews  did  not  know  wdiether  Moses 
legislated  for  them,  what  that  legislation  was,  and 
what  parts  preserved  to  us  are  true  or  false,  and  in 
what  particulars  false. 

Micah's  idolatry  was  but  an  episode  in  the  era  of 
the  Judges,  and  would  seem  to  have  been  limited  in 
extent.  It  did  not  flourish  under  Samuel.  Hence  the 
recurring  phrase,  "  There  was  then  no  king  in  Israel  " 
(Judges*  17  :  6  ;  18  :  1  ;  19  :  1  ;  21  :  25).  The 
words  :  ""  Every  man  did  what  was  right  in  his  own 


MIRACULOUS  EVENTIS.  129 

eyes,"  do  not  apply  to  the  whole  book,  but  to  the  idol- 
atry of  Mieah  and  the  seizure  of  the  yonng  women 
"who  assembled  at  the  Shiloh  festival.  That  it  was  not 
of  general  application  is  shown  in  chapter  20,  which  nar- 
rates how  all  Israel  gathered  together  even  from  Dan  to 
Beer-sheba  to  punish  a  heinous  offence  (vei'ses  1-8). 
The  rising  of  all  the  people  as  one  man  suggests  that 
moral  ideas  still  dominated  them.  The  account  also 
teaches  that  the  tribes  were  not  wholly  unorganized 
and  disintegrated.  They  combined  for  punishment 
of  tribal  wrong,  and  they  assembled  for  general  humili- 
ation, fasting,  and  sacrifices  before  God  at  Shiloli 
(verse  26).  Only  six  hundred  men  of  Benjamin  were 
known  to  have  escaped  destruction.  So  to  prevent 
the  total  extinction  of  the  tribe  every  survivor  was 
permitted  to  do  as  he  pleased  abont  taking  a  wife  from 
the  maidens  who  went  to  Shiloh.  At  a  later  time 
Rome  supplies  a  similar  example.  But  it  by  no  means 
follows  that  such  capture  of  wives  was  the  custom 
from  Joshua  to  Samuel,  nor  from  the  rape  of  the  Sa- 
bine women  to  the  Law  of  the  Twelve  Tables.  We 
therefore  restrict  such  violence  to  the  occasions  which 
justified  it  in  Italy  and  in  Israel.  Indeed  Judges  20 
explains  the  existence  of  a  law  which  was  enforced 
against  the  transgressors  of  Gibeah.  It  was  in  a  cen- 
tury after  the  Exodus.  And  the  punishment  inflicted 
proves  both  the  existence  and  knowledge  of  a  legal 
code  by  Benjamin  and  all  Israel.  The  tragic  incident 
also  illustrates  how  the  tribes  might  be  assembled 
(19  :  29  to  20  :  13).  It  is  therefore  bad  logic  and 
poor  history  to  expound  Judges  20  by  21  :  25,  or 
by  17  :  6.  Bemarkable  is  the  idolatry  recounted  in 
6* 


130  ISRAEL  IN  PALESTINE. 

chapter  18,  if  it  occurred  among  the  grandchildren  of 
Moses.  It  would  seem  that  verse  30  gives  the  names 
of  another  tribe,  and  not  that  of  the  lawgiver.  (See 
Josh.  21  :  6,  27  ;  1  Chron.  23  :  13-17.)  Dan's  Jona- 
than is  not  among  them. 

Thus,  Hebrew  treaties  and  commerce,  weights  and 
measures,  law  and  penalty  ;  towns  like  Hebron  and 
Kirjath-sepher  famed  for  its  books,  the  Mesha  Inscrip- 
tion and  the  Siloam  Viaduct  ;  songs  like  that  of 
Moses,  Miriam,  and  Deborah  ;  blessings  like  those  of 
Jacob  ;  names  and  stations  like  those  in  Is  umbers  ; 
riddles  and  frolics  like  those  of  Samson  ;  laws  like 
those  of  the  Covenant  placed  in  the  Ark  and  the  Kit- 
ual  by  it,  which  were  often  copied  and  expounded  ; 
the  national  census,  military  lists,  and  tribal  allot- 
ments ;  the  obligation  of  vows  in  ISTazarites  and  of  the 
annual  meetings  at  Shiloh  or  wherever  the  tabernacle 
was  set  up  ;  altars  and  pillars  of  witness  here  and 
there  ;  Joseph  and  his  brethren  in  Canaan  and  in 
Egypt — all  these  certify  to  the  genuineness  and  credi- 
bility of  Old  Testament  history  to  Israel  and  the  world. 


VI. 


now  JAPIIETll   SCRUTINIZES   JACOB'S 
BOOKS. 

Every  boy  who  knows  his  Anabasis  also  knows  tliat 
the  writer  of  it  conld  not  have  carried  in  mind  the 
several  stations  and  parasangs  made,  the  places  visited, 
and  the  eventful  details  of  that  enterprise.  The  au- 
thor must  have  taken  notes  on  the  spot  or  after  the 
day's  halt,  in  order  to  reproduce  for  his  reader  a  true 
account  of  the  ill-advised  expedition  of  the  younger 
Cyrus.  That  was  four  hundred  years  b.c.  A  com- 
parison of  the  Anabasis  with  the  Book  of  Numbers, 
apart  from  the  rest  of  the  Pentateuch,  will  show  that 
it  must  have  been  written  near  the  time  of  the  events 
recorded.  They  are  so  various  ;  so  many  stations  or 
haltings,  so  many  names  of  persons,  so  many  places 
and  dates,  with  the  numbers  of  the  several  tribes  men- 
tioned, could  not  have  been  carried  in  the  memory  of 
an  Israelite.  Even  admitting  the  "  Episode  of  Ba- 
laam" was  later  incorporated,  there  is  too  much  left, 
too  great  a  variety  of  matters  to  be  preserved,  without 
a  contemporary-  record  of  them.  To  memorize  the 
''Iliad  "  would  be  easy  in  comparison  for  a  Greek, 
even  with  its  catalogue  of  forces  ;  for  they  were  all 
familiar  names,   and   it  formed   the  chief  part  of  a 


132  JAPUETU  miTIGISES 

youth's  education.  But  Numbers  was  only  a  por- 
tion of  what  a  Hebrew  must  learn,  if  he  would  know 
the  early  literature  of  his  country.  The  reader  can 
try  tin's  for  himself,  and  commit  to  memory  tlie  first 
fonr  chapters  of  that  Book.  "  According  to  the  com- 
mandment of  the  LoKD  they  were  numbered  by  the 
hand  of  Moses,  e\^ery  one  according  to  his  burden  ; 
thus  they  were  numbered  of  him,  as  the  Lord  com- 
manded Moses."  These  four  chapters  required  to  be 
written  at  the  time  ;  so  did  chapters  7,  9,  10,  11  ; 
while  no  later  Hebrew  would  have  forged  or  invented 
chapter  12.  The  13th  is  so  full  of  names  and  time- 
marks  that  no  one  would  invent  it.  The  national  and 
personal  pride,  not  to  say  patriotism  of  Hebrews, 
would  not  have  originated  chapter  14.  The  15th, 
like  the  5th  and  6th,  comprises  legal  enactments  and 
duties,  and  tells  how  the  law  of  the  Sabbath  w'as  exe- 
cuted upon  one  who  had  broken  it.  Chapter  16  re- 
cords the  first  serious  ecclesiastical  rebellion  which, 
from  the  signal  punishment  wdiich  was  inflicted,  must 
liave  made  such  a  deep  impression  upon  Israel  as  to 
be  long  remembered.  It  assuredly  could  not  have 
been  originated  after  the  calves  of  Jeroboam  and  his 
new-made  priests,  for  it  w^ould  have  convicted  Jero- 
boam's successors  of  wrongdoing  in  Israel  and  legally 
condemned  them,  wdiich  they  would  not  permit  (2 
Chron.  11  :  14-16  ;  2  Kings  15  :  17-30  ;  Lev.  10  : 
1-7  ;  Kuni.  16-19).  The  death  of  Miriam  ;  the 
striking  of  a  rock  which  yielded  an  abundant  supply 
of  water  to  murmuring  Israel  ;  the  gentle  message  to 
Edom  for  safe  passage  through  that  land,  and  the  i;e- 
fueal  ;  the  death  of  Aaron,  a[>pointmcnt  of  bis  succes- 


JACOirs  BOOKS.  133 

sor,  the  mourning,  and  tlie  announcement  to  Moses 
that  he  was  not  permitted  to  enter  Canaan,  are  all  his- 
toric matters  quite  in  accord  with  its  unfolding  in 
Israel,  and  put  the  seal  of  authenticity  upon  chapter 
20.  The  account  of  the  plague  of  serpents,  and  of 
the  brazen  one  made  for  the  healing  of  those  bitten 
(chapter  21),  could  not  be  palmed  oif  as  historical 
among  that  people,  unless  genuine.  The  record  linds 
confirmation  in  the  fact  that  the  serpent  of  brass  then 
made  was  preserv^ed  to  the  time  of  Ilezekiah,  who  de- 
stroyed it  because  the  people  had  learned  to  burn  in- 
cense before  it,  which  was  an  abomination.  The  lift- 
ing up  of  that  brazeu  serpent  by  Moses  for  the  healing 
of  the  wounded  was  made  a  type  of  the  sin-healing 
power  of  our  Lord  to  all  who  sincerely  look  to  Him 
(St.  John  3  :  14,  15  ;  2  Kings  IS  :  4). 

It  hardly  detracts  from  the  historic  credibility  of 
chapters  22-2-1,  if  originally  written  by  Balaam,  who 
figures  conspicuously  in  them.  T)r.  Kalisch,  with 
some  others,  regards  it  as  a  separate  document,  later 
incorporated  into  our  received  text — about  1030  b.c. 
Because  Balaam  j^i'edicts  the  coming  time  when  As- 
syria will  carry  the  Kenites  captive,  "  this  threatening 
presupposes  that  lohen  it  was  lettered  the  Assyrians 
had  already  acquired  an  imposing  position  in  Western 
Asia  ;  and  that  the  words  had  as  their  background  the 
age  of  Tiglath-pileser  II.,  or  of  Sargon  11. ,  or  of 
Sanherib.  So  the  inference  is  drawn  that  a  redaction 
of  the  first  four  books  of  the  Pentateuch  was  made  in 
the  second  half  of  the  eighth  century  b.c."  Schrader 
well  says  there  is  no  sufficient  warrant  for  this  conclu- 
sion.      We  know  that  Israel  came  in  contact  with  As- 


134  JAPUETU  CRITICISES 

Syria  at  a  much  earlier  period,  being  tributary  to  her 
in  the  ninth  century  d.c.  ller  king,  Kininion-nirari 
(812-783),  mentions  the  hind  of  Omri,  Sidon,  Tyre, 
Edom,  and  Phihstia  as  tributary  to  him.  Assur- 
ndsir-habal  (885-860)  possessed  the  boundaries  of  Leb- 
anon, marched  to  the  great  sea  of  the  west  country, 
gathered  his  faithful  ones,  and  sacrificed  to  the  gods. 
He  received  tribute  of  Tyrians,  Sidonians,  and  other 
nations  of  the  west  country  ;  the  latter  probably  in- 
cluded Israel.  Wherefore  the  redaction  of  a  pre- 
Deuteronomy  Pentateuch  may  have  belonged  to  the 
last  quarter  of  the  ninth  century  b.c.  But  why  should 
any  relation  of  Israel  with  Assyria  in  the  ninth  or  the 
thirteenth  century  b.c.  have  anything  to  do  with  the 
prediction  of  Balaam  ?  The  real  question  is.  Did 
Moab  oppose  Israel  while  on  her  way  to  Palestine  ? 
Did  her  king  send  for  Balaam  to  curse  the  intruder  ? 
Have  we  the  account  of  that  opposition  and  the  utter- 
ance of  the  seer?  The  Moabite  stone  of  875  b.c.  is 
evidence  of  Moab's  hostility  to  Israel  then  :  for  Mesha 
*'  dragged  the  females  of  Jahveh  before  Chemosh, 
and  slew  seven  thousand  men  and  boys,  women  and 
maidens  !"  It  discloses  a  fiercer  oppugnancy  than 
Balak  exhibited  ;  for  \\is,fear  of  Israel  was  aroused, 
not  his  religion.  The  narrative  is  in  accord  with  other 
events.  Balak  sent  for  a  man  to  help  him  against  the 
people  he  feared  and  the  God  he  did  not  adore.  As- 
syria was  then  distant,  and  her  kings  had  not  yet 
marched  so  far  to  the  southwest.  There  was  no  mo- 
tive for  adopting  the  episode  of  Balaam  and  Balak, 
unless  it  accorded  with  Israel's  historic  tradition  ;  but 
the  account  being  credible  and  genuine,  that  it  was 


JACOB'S  BOOKS.  135 

Balaam's  own  gave  it  the  greater  value.  The  objec- 
tion to  it  largely  arises  from  its  containing  a  ]>ro|)hecy — 
^'  The  Kenite  shall  be  wasted  ;  Assiir  shall  carry  her 
captive"  (Num.  24:  :  21--2-4).  This  came  to  pass  in 
part  under  Sargon  after  Y21  e.g.,  nnder  his  son  Sen- 
nacherib, and  again  under  Nebuchadnezzar,  who  dev- 
astated that  country.  See  the  "  Speaker's  Commen- 
tary," ad  loo,  Tlie  last  quarter  of  the  ninth  century, 
when  accepted  by  the  redactor,  still  leaves  at  least  two 
centuries  before  the  fulfilment  of  the  prediction  ; 
when  there  was  no  seeming  probability  that  Assyria 
would  sweep  the  whole  country  to  the  southwest  of 
the  Euphrates.  W hatever  effect  Balaam's  deliverances 
may  have  had  on  Balak,  the  son  of  Beor  was  in  fact 
slain  before  Israel  crossed  the  Jordan.  It  is  pitiful 
criticism  which  would  explain  away  what  he  said,  be- 
cause he  was  not  a  recognized  prophet  of  Jahveh,  or 
because  the  country  in  question  was  not  then  a  likely 
agent  to  fulfil  it.  Deeds  and  dates  may  be  matters  of 
sequence,  but  a  prophecy  must  belong  to  a  period 
earlier  than  its  fulfilment.     So  does  this  of  Balaam's. 

We  have  dwelt  on  the  character  of  the  Book  of 
Numbers  to  illustrate  how  very  difficult  it  would  be 
to  memorize  its  verbal  contents  ;  nuich  more  so  would 
it  be  to  invent  them  in  a  late  age.  Then  there  is  the 
plague  at  Shittim  (chapter  25),  inflicted  because  of 
lustful  idolatry.  Chapter  26  is  an  impossible  concep- 
tion unless  true,  and  its  place  in  the  book  proves  it  is 
true.  Mad  indeed  must  an  author  be  who  should  try 
to  invent  it  or  chapter  27.  Its  historical  genuineness 
ought  not  to  be  questioned.  Writers  do  not  fabricate 
such  literature.     The  introduction  of  verses  12-23  in 


136  JAPUETU  CRITICISES 

that  relation  soarids  like  a  thunder-clap  in  a  clear  sum- 
mer day.  Passing  to  33  :  38  we  have  the  death  of 
Aaron,  which,  and  the  subsequent  matters  related, 
show  how  much  easier  it  would  be  to  invent  the  ex- 
pedition of  Cyrus,  or  remember  all  its  details  of  sta- 
tions and  parasangs,  than  to  fabricate  the  contents  of 
the  fourth  book  of  Moses.  It  must  have  originated 
in  tlie  age  of  its  events,  which  must  have  been  written 
out  then,  though  some  chapters  may  have  been  trans- 
posed or  added  since  1300  b.c.  ;  according  to  Kahsch 
in  1030  B.C.     Eead  Bible  references. 

That  the  early  Hebrews  were  familiar  with  reading 
and  writing  appears  in  Genesis,  in  Exodus  5  :  18-20  ; 
17  :  14  ;  34  :  27,  28,  and  in  the  national  census  of 
Moses  and  David  ;  in  the  letter  of  David  to  Joab 
touching  the  treatment  of  T^riah,  which  David  wrote 
to  compass  his  death  (2  Sam.  11  :  14,  15)  ;  in  the 
writings  of  prophets  and  seers — Nathan,  Gad,  Iddo  ; 
in  David's  Psalm  and  his  charge  to  Solomon,  and  in 
the  long  lists  of  famous  men.  (Of.  2  Sam.  7  ;  1 
Chron.  16  ;  21  :  9-30  ;  23-25  chapters  ;  2  Chron. 
12  :  15).  Thej  are  details  and  matters  not  carried  in 
a  stranger's  memory.  The  men  of  Hezekiah  copied 
out  Proverbs  of  Solomon  (25  :  1).  It  suggests  author- 
ship, and  that  writing  was  known  in  tlie  eleven tli  cen- 
tury B.C.  The  now  famous  Siloam  inscription  could  not 
have  been  later  than  Hezekiah,  and  may  have  been 
Solomon's  work.  Professor  Sayce  says,  "  While  there 
are  several  reasons  which  assign  it  to  the  age  of  Solo- 
mon, there  are  others  which  place  it  in  the  reign  of 
Hezekiah"  (2  Kings  20  :  20  ;  2  Chron.  32  :  30).  '^'  The 
forms  of  the  letters  used  in   this  inscription  make  it 


JACOirS  BOOKS.  137 

quite  clear  that  the  engraver  was  accustomed  to  write 
on  ])archnient  or  papyrus  and  not  on  stone.  They  are 
rounded,  not  angular,  like  the  characters  on  the 
Moabite  stone.  Indeed,  the  alphabet  employed  in 
Judah  was  that  of  a  people  then  in  the  habit  of  writ- 
ing and  reading  hooks.  The  engraver  was  probably 
one  of  the  workmen  delighted  at  the  success  of  the 
conduit.  Skill  in  engineering  was  then  so  advanced 
as  to  allow  the  workmen  to  commence  tunnelling  the 
hill  simultaneously  at  the  opposite  ends  and  to  meet 
each  other  in  the  middle  of  the  tunnel,  which  winds 
in  its  course  and  is  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
eight  yards  long  from  mouth  to  exit.  This  inscription 
was  in  a  place  never  likely  to  be  ;seen,  was  carefully 
executed,  proving  that  writing  was  common  at  that 
time."  Only  by  an  accident  was  it  discovered  in 
June,  1880.  Scribes,  priests,  and  prophetical  schools 
were  as  well  practised  in  this  art  as  writers  in  our  day. 
^^  This  conclusion,"  says  Sayce,  ''  is  confirmed  by  the 
monuments  of  Egypt  and  Assyria.  Books  were  com- 
mon there  from  the  earliest  times  ;  the  profession  of 
scribe  was  held  in  high  esteem  ;  public  and  private 
monuments  were  covered  with  characters  presumed  to 
be  read  by  every  one.  Long  before  Abraham  libraries 
w^ere  well  stocked  with  clay  or  papyrus  books  which 
had  numerous  readers.  New  works  were  frequently 
added,  and  copies  of  old  ones  made.  They  were  ar- 
ranged and  catalogued  as  in  a  modern  library  ;  treated 
of  every  department  of  knowledge,  and  represented 
every  known  class  of  subjects.  If  the  Israelites  had 
been  illiterate,  living  midway  between  Assyria  and 
Egypt,  and  bordering  on  the  highly-civilized  cities  of 


138  JAPIIETII  CRITICISES 

Phoenicia,  it  would  have  been  nothing  sliort  of  a 
miracle.  That  they  were  not  is  put  beyond  cavil  by 
the  Siloani  inscription.  Consequently  no  arguments 
can  be  drawn  against  the  credibility  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment Scriptures  on  the  ground  that  their  historical 
statements  are  false  or  mythical,  or  that  they  could 
not  have  been  written  at  the  early  date  to  which  they 
lay  claim.  There  is  no  reason  why  Abraham  should 
not  have  been  able  to  write  ;  most  of  his  contemporaries 
in  Ur  could  do  so  ;  there  is  still  less  reason  why  his  de- 
scendants, who  had  been  brought  into  contact  with  the 
literature  of  Egypt,  should  not  have  written  too. 
Biblical  books  composed  at  the  time  of  the  events  de- 
scribed have  the  weight  of  contemporary  evidence. 
A  writer  does  not  give  a  false  account  of  things  well 
known  to  his  readers,  or  imagine  events  which  his 
contemporaries  can  show  never  happened.  The  history 
of  writing  in  the  East  makes  it  probable  that  the 
Biblical  books  were  written  at  the  time  to  which  tradi- 
tion assigns  them.  It  is  not  likely  that  the  Israelites 
abstained  from  composing  books  when  they  were  ac- 
quainted w^ith  the  art  of  writing,  and  when  thej  were 
surrounded  by  nations  long  in  the  possession  of  li- 
braries. That  the  Biblical  books  belong  to  the  time 
which  tradition  supposes  is  confirmed  by  the  deciphered 
monuments  of  Egypt  and  Assyria,  and  by  the  accuracy 
they  display  in  the  matters  related  by  contemporary 
histories. "  Kenan's  positive  statement  to  the  contrary, 
which  I  have  been  disproving,  excuses  the  length  of 
this  quotation.  The  proof  is  cumulative  and  irresisti- 
ble. Witness  the  contents  of  2  Chronicles  10,  re- 
lating the  interview  between  the  party  of  Jeroboam 


JACOirS  BOOKS.  130 

and  Relioboam  pendintr  the  disruption  of  the  tribes. 
That  was  not  left  to  Ezra  after  tlie  Exile,  bnt  was 
doubtless  recorded  at  the  time.  Its  credibility  is 
beyond  cavil,  and  with  all  the  evidences  previously 
mentioned  of  writing  bj  Solomon,  David,  Joab,  and 
those  who  aided  in  taking  the  national  census,  illus- 
trates how  common  writing  was  in  the  tenth  and  the 
eleventh  century  b.c.  That  letter  of  Elijah  to  Jeho- 
ram  was  written  by  a  prophet  who  illuminates  his  era 
with  moral  heroism,  and  who,  judging  from  the  ]ilaco 
of  his  birth,  had  not  the  highest  educational  advan- 
tages in  his  boyhood  ;  jet  he  wrote  an  epistle  to  a 
king.  From  Moses  to  Samuel  writing  was  the  medium 
of  preserving  prophetic  deliverances,  and  they  were 
thus  preserved.  The  early  Hebrews  were  competent 
to  write  their  history,  compose  a  literature,  and  read 
books  ;  witness  the  well-known  book  mentioned  in 
Exodus  17  :  14  ;  Josh.  18  :  9 ;  8  :  30-34. 

But  the  existence  of  similar  phrases  in  the  Old 
Testament  with  certain  cuneiform  inscriptions  decides 
not  the  priority  of  the  latter,  nor  that  one  account  was 
derived  from  the  other,  and  is  therefore  more  ancient. 
Schrader  compares  the  words,  "  Burned  the  city  with 
fire,  or  consumed  with  fire"  (Judges  18  :  27),  with 
wdiat  is  said  of  Tiglath-pileser  I.  at  nearly  the  same 
period  in  his  col.  V.,  60,  72,  where  Isatu=ash  or  esh 
is  found,  which  by  some  vowel  changes  makes  the 
word  like  one  in  Hebrew.  No  such  device  is  needed 
to  show  that  both  Joshua  and  Tiglath-pileser  L,  like 
others  before  them,  made  ashes  of  hostile  cities.  Ex- 
odus 9- :  7  says,  "  The  heart  of  Pharaoh  was  hardened 
or  obstinate  ;"  so  Sennacherib's  col.  (Taylor  cyl.,  Y., 


140  JAPIIETU  CIIITICISES 

7)  has  the  phrase,  "  Their  heart  was  obstinate,  so  that 
they  offered  resistance"  to  him  ;  the  Khors.  91,  33 
reads,  ^'  The  heart  .  .  .  obstinate."  Other  reseni- 
bhmces  between  Hebrew  and  Assyrian  are  seen  in  the 
same  word  designating  certain  colors — viz.,  those  of 
the  sanctuary  of  the  tabernacle,  violet-blue,  red-purple, 
seal  of  agate,  etc.  (Ex.  25  :  4  ;  28  :  19  ;  Khors.  142, 
182  ;  Schrader,  *'  Cuneiform  Inscriptions,"  p.  143). 
He  also  says  Pliaro  is  found  on  the  monuments  ; 
Pethor,  the  home  of  Balaam,  was  on  the  west  bank  of 
the  Euphrates,  and  called  Pitru  by  the  Syrians,  and 
Shalmaneser  took  possession  of  it  for  himself.  It  ful- 
filled the  prediction  noted  above.  Expressions  "  like 
the  stars  of  heaven"  (Gen.  22  :  17  ;  27  :  4)  are  used 
by  Assur-iiasir-habal,  who  carried  away  prisoners  and 
booty,  which,  "  like  the  stars  of  heaven,  were  not  to 
be  numbered."  He  flourished  88G-858  B.C.,  and  was 
the  father  of  the  Shalmaneser  just  named.  But  it 
would  be  folly  to  say  that  therefore  the  phrases  in 
Genesis  were  written  after  those  of  this  Assyrian 
king. 

The  use  of  the  word  seven  in  Leviticus  2G  :  21,  24, 
28,  and  in  Deuteronomy  28  :  7,  25  is  similar  to  its  use 
in  Genesis  and  in  Daniel  as  the  number  of  complete- 
ness. In  Deuteronomy  28  :  36,  64,  Leviticus  26  :  29, 
30,  we  have  emphatic  proof  that  the  passage  was  not 
w^ritten  by  a  fifth-century  Jew.  Hebrews  and  Per- 
sians were  then  decided  monotheists,  and  would  not 
provide  idolatry  as  a  penalty  for  transgression  of 
Jehovah's  covenant,  which  would  be  adding  sin  to  sin. 
Nor  could  the  verses  refer  to  the  Babylonian  cap- 
tivity, because  Abraham  had  coine  from  Ur  of  Baby- 


JACOB'S  BOOKS.  141 

Ionia  ;  and  a  nation  is  spoken  of  wliieli  their  fathers 
did  not  know.  The  reference  must  therefore  1)e  to 
tlie  x\?syrian  captivity,  and  was  palpahly  written  be- 
fore 7:21  B.C.,  wlien  Sarii;on  took  Samaria.  So  the 
verses  clearly  make  against  the  fifth-ccntnrj-origin 
theory,  whose  advocates  must  either  exscind  the  refer- 
ence or  admit  its  early  origin.  It  is  amazing  how 
some  critics  ignore  dates.  Again,  Leviticus  26  :  20, 
Deuteronomy  28  :  53-58  are  demonstrably  prophetic, 
and  did  not  find  their  complete  fulfilment  till  the  last 
war  with  the  Romans,  described  with  some  attend- 
ant horrors  by  Josephus  ('^  De  Bell.  Jud.,"  YI.,  3,  4). 
Though  strongly  forbidden  by  the  law,  which  did  not 
permit  one  to  touch  a  dead  body  without  subsequent 
cleansing,  the  famine  was  so  great  that  parents  ate  the 
flesh  of  their  children  for  food.  The  terrible  extrem- 
ity softened  even  the  hearts  of  the  tyrants  who  ruled 
the  city,  and  verified  the  prophecy. 

So  the  fact  that  Abraham  began  his  public  life  in 
Canaan  by  defeating  a  coml)ination  of  invaders  who 
were  as  five  to  his  one  has  no  relation  to  the  fact  that 
Joshua  began  his  career  in  that  same  land  by  defeating 
one  combination  after  another  of  hostile  forces,  takino: 
Ave  kings  at  one  time,  "  whom  he  crucified,"  and  a 
popular  song  celebrated  this  victory.  ''In  it,"  says 
Kenan,  ''  were  found  two  lines  : 

"  '  Sun,  stand  thou  still  upon  Gibeon, 

And  thou,  moon,  in  the  valley  of  Ajalon.' 

The  poet  would  express  the  astonishment  of  nature 
at  the  prodigious  effort  of  the  Israelites.  This  rhetor- 
ical  figure  afterward  gave  jise  to  some  curious  mis- 


142  JAniETll  CRITICISES 

takes.  The  two  lines  were  ascribed  to  Joshua,  and  in 
changing  the  meaning  of  the  word  wliicli  signifies 
'  stood  still  with  astonishment '  (struck  witli  terror),  it 
was  supposed  tliat  the  sun  really  stood  still  at  the  order 
of  Joshua."  In  the  song  of  Deborah  the  stars  are  said 
to  fight  against  Sisera.  Some  would  feel  relieved  if 
the  original  narrative  warranted  Kenan's  explanation. 
He  acknowledges  the  personality  and  leadership  of 
Joshua.  While  his  version  of  the  lengthened  day  dif- 
fers from  that  of  many,  it  removes  a  difficulty  ;  but  it 
also  removes  the  honor  done  to  Jahveh  ;  for  Joshua 
makes  the  heaven-gods  glorify  Him  by  aiding  His 
Hebrew  serv^ants.  A  sermon  on  the  passage  by  Rev. 
Dr.  Egar,  in  the  Cliurchman  of  October  13th,  ISSS, 
suggests  that  the  "  battle  was  fought  in  the  night,  and 
the  prayer  was  for  the  sun  not  to  rise  and  frustrate  the 
advantage  of  this  night  attack.  It  was  not  yet  dawn  ; 
let  the  sun  be  silent  and  not  shine  ;  let  the  moon  be 
obscured  and  the  storm  continue  until  the  enemy  be 
destroyed  !"  Let  Jahveh  be  glorified  in  Israel's  vic- 
tory.    So  also  sang  Deborah. 

What  Itenan  says  of  Lot  and  the  Rotenu,  the  Egyp- 
tian name  for  the  Syrians,  accords  with  Geseniug  ; 
they  were  the  people  of  the  country  about  the  Dead 
Sea.  Lot  was  among  the  new-comers  into  that  region, 
and  left  his  name  in  the  Rotenu  of  Syria.  His  sons 
were  Moabites  and  Ammonites,  now  at  war  with  Israel 
and  now  seducing  them  to  the  worship  of  Chemosh. 
They  were  more  often  hostile  than  friendly  to  Jacob, 
and  ever  ready  to  aid  Japheth  against  him.  To-day 
they  have  no  place  in  history. 

He  said   in    his  heart"   ((icn.    17  :  17) — i.e.,    he 


ii. 


JACOB'S  BOOKS.  143 

tlion^'lit  to  himself,  is  found  in  G.  Smith's  ''  Assiir- 
banipal,"  and  also  the  Accadian  legend  which  gives  the 
creation  of  the  moon  as  hefore  that  of  the  sun,  following 
the  usage  of  the  Accadians,  who  placed  the  female 
l)efore  the  male,  and  gave  the  goddess  Istar  an  indepen- 
dent position.  Error  of  the  inscriptions  is  also  seen 
in  locating  Edom  between  the  land  of  Omri  and  Pal- 
estav — i.e.^  between  Samaria  and  Phoenicia,  when,  in 
fact,  Edom  was  south  of  those  two  countries.  Why, 
then,  shall  we  correct  the  Bible  by  Assyrian  records  ? 
Their  forms  of  greeting  :  "  I  salute  you — my  good 
wishes  to  yon — peace  be  to  you,"  neither  prove  nor 
disprove  that  the  forms  in  Genesis  are  Liter  than  the 
inscriptions,  or  that  those  of  Assurbanipal,  667-47 
B.C.,  are  before  our  Bible  forms.  (Cf.  Schrader's 
"  Cuneiforms,"  p.  125  ;  H.  Bawlinson's  ^'  Asurhad- 
don,"  and  G.  Smith's  '^Assurbanipal.") 

Moreover,  if  details  of  Israel's  history  do  not  appear 
in  the  inscriptions  till  the  era  of  Shalmaneser  XL,  the 
omission  does  not  militate  against  the  probability  that 
the  Bible  record  was  the  earlier,  nor  that  its  idiomatic 
phrases — words  for  violet-blue,  red-purple,  seal  of 
agate,  its  prophecies,  and  the  facts  of  local  history — 
were  not  origiiial  ;  for  Jacob  had  artistic  and  linguistic 
skill  enough  at  and  after  the  Exode  to  imitate  or  orig- 
inate bright  colors  and  expressive  phrases  for  all  his 
needs,  before  the  Assyrian  set  foot  in  Palestine. 
Even  before  the  house  of  Omri  was  known  east  of  the 
Euphrates,  Solomon,  David,  and  Saul  had  reigned 
over  a  unified  Israel.  So,  because  the  Persian  word 
jxtJuit,  meaning  vicegerent,  is  used  in  1  Kings  10  : 
15  ;  20  :  24  ;  rendered   governors  aiul  captains,  in  the 


144  JAPIlEril  CRITICISES 

tenth  and  the  ninth  centnry  B.C.,  it  by  no  means  fol- 
lows tliat  it  was  first  w^ritten  in  Hebrew  after  the  time 
of  Cyrus,  nor  tliat  the  passage  is  an  interpolation. 
For  careful  examination  finds  the  word  used  by  Sargon 
II.,  who  established  \\h  j^ahati  over  South  Babylonia, 
and  that  he  was  enthroned  in  liis  palace  amid  his  pahdti 
near  two  centuries  before  Cyrus  (Khors.  22,  lYS). 
Yet  some  will  have  us  suppose  that  this  word  came  to 
the  Hebrews  through  the  Persians,  when  in  fact  it 
was  used  in  Israel  and  in  Assyria  long  before  Cyrus 
conquered  Babylon.  Evidence  is  conclusive  that  the 
word  for  viceroy  existed  in  Hebrew  as  early  as  we  find 
it  in  Kings.  Schrader  rightly  says  that  '^  interpolation 
in  such  cases  is  absurd"  (pp.  175,  176).  It  was  quite 
historic  for  Shalmaneser  II.  to  mention  the  "  land  or 
house  of  Omri  ;"  for  Rimmon-nirari  and  Tiglath- 
pileser  II.  mention  it,  and  Sargon  II.,  who  extin- 
guished it.  But  Schrader  errs  in  saying  that  ^'  accord- 
ing to  the  Biblical  account  the  king  who  captured 
Samaria  can  only  have  been  the  same  king  who  laid 
siege  to  it" — viz.,  Shalmaneser  IV.  (p.  181).  For  2 
Kings  17  :  6  only  says,  "  The  King  of  Assyria  took 
Samaria,"  without  naming  the  king.  It  is  not  relating 
the  history  of  Assyria,  and  so  only  states  what  was 
done  to  Israel  ;  therefore  the  inference  of  Schrader 
that  Shalmaneser  took  Samaria  is  his  mistake,  not  the 
writer's  in  Kings.  Indeed,  verses  4,  5,  6  do  not  men- 
tion the  king's  name,  but  leave  it  to  the  general  his- 
tory of  Assyria.  Schrader  correctly  says  that  the 
Samirena  of  Assurbani])al,  after  608  b.c,  is  not  the 
Samaria  of  Israel  and  Omri  (p.  182).  Its  national  ex- 
istence terminated  more  than  half  a  century  before. 


JACOB'S  BOOKS.  145 

Assyrian  kings  pnnislicd  her  for  disloyalty  to  tlie  Lord 
God  of  Israel.  Japlieth  chastised  Jacob.  Egypt  and 
Babylon  chastised  Judah.  These  are  truths  of  his- 
tory. It  would  not  make  them  false  if  the  record  of 
them  were  not  found  in  contemporary  annals.  So  of 
words  used  in  describing  any  of  those  events.  Dia- 
lects differ  ;  words  used  by  a  people  at  one  stage  of 
their  history  are  not  used  at  another  period.  We  find 
this  in  the  English  of  Chaucer,  Shakespeare,  the 
*' judicious  Hooker,"  in  Johnsonized  Latin,  and  in 
De  Qnincey,  who  tried  to  Anglicize  "  parvanimity"  as 
the  natural  counterpart  of  magnanimity.  Among  the 
myriad  of  domestics  in  Solomon? s  establishment  were 
many  non-Israelites,  some  of  whose  words  may  have 
become  incorporated  into  Hebrew  with  the  dawn  of 
the  tenth  century  b.c.  This  readily  explains  some 
supj^osed  verbal  anachronisms  in  our  Bible.  Some  so- 
called  "Americanisms"  are  clearly  traceable  to  the 
English  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Professor  Green 
shows  that  in  the  decalogue  is  found  the  so-called 
Elohist  writer,  the  Jahvist,  and  the  Deuteronomist, 
all  in  a  few  verses  ;  so  in  other  passages. 

Mr.  William  Lethaby  recently  wrote  thus  ;  "On  the 
east  side  of  the  Dead  Sea,  at  the  top  of  the  mountain 
where  Lot  lied  for  refuge  after  the  overthrow  of  the 
cities  of  the  plain  ;  where  since  the  Crusaders  no  West- 
ern couple  has  resided,  and  which,  we  are  told,  we 
must  not  think  of  as  a  possible  abode,  1  find  that  Far- 
rar,  Geikie,  Ilarmer,  Thompson,  etc.,  have  not  con- 
veyed one  half  of  the  force  of  the  argument  for  the 
utmost  credibility  of  the  Biblical  books  which  resi- 
dence in  the  Holy  Land  conveys  to  an  Occidental. 
7 


146  JAPIIETn  CRITICISES 

If  yon  lived  in  Moab,  to  suggest  that  Moses  was  mid- 
way between  a  dupe,  a  braggart,  and  a  myth,  the  sons 
of  the  desert  would  regard  you  as  needing  a  close-fit- 
ting strait  waistcoat  for  yonr  suggestion,  so  supremely 
ridiculons  would  it  appear  to  them.  Anything  ap- 
proaching to  infidelity  is  not  to  be  found  in  a  single 
Arab  or  native  of  these  lands  ;  nor,  if  he  could  read, 
and  had  the  Bible  in  his  hands,  could  such  a  thing  be 
possible,  when  every  page  speaks  to  him,  in  emphatic 
language,  of  his  forefathers." 

It  may  cause  a  smile  to  note  Kenan's  objection  to 
**  the  Book  of  Joshua,  which  relates  the  conquests  of 
Joshua,  but  does  not  mention  that  of  Samaria"  (vol. 
]*.,  p.  208).  Because  Samaria  was  not  then  hiiilt ! 
Late  in  the  tenth  century  "  Omri  bought  the  hill 
Samaria  of  Shemer  for  two  talents  of  silver,  and  built 
on  the  hill,  and  called  the  name  of  the  city  which  he 
built,  after  the  name  of  Shemer,  owner  of  the  hill, 
Samaria"  (1  Kings  16  :  21).  This  Omri  was  the 
father  of  Ahab,  and  fiourislied  929-18  b.c.  He  and 
the  name  of  his  city  are  found  on  the  Assyrian  tablets, 
but  he  could  not  have  been  known  to  any  early  writer 
of  the  deeds  of  Joshua,  who  died  several  centuries  before 
Omrihuilt  Samaria!  The  contents  and  the  silence 
of  the  Book  will  survive  Renan's  objection,  although 
he  calls  it  ^'  the  least  historical  of  the  Bible"  ("  His- 
tory of  the  People  of  Israel,"  p.  212).  In  his  second 
volume,  v/hile  accepting  the  record  in  Kings,  he  does 
not  cancel  his  false  criticism. 

The  Assyrian  tablets  say  that  Shalmaneser  II.  sub- 
dued Ahab  with  the  loss  of  ten  thousand  men  ;  but 
Ahab  was  slain   in   battle  in   892  ;  and   Shalmaneser 


JACOirS  BOOKS.  147 

in  Ill's  sixth  year  defeated  Israel  and  lior  allies,  when 
fourteen  thousand  soldiers  were  put  /lors  de  comhat. 
He  reig-ned  from  858  to  823,  or,  according  to  Schrader, 
800-25 — i.e.^  he  began  to  reign  tliirt^^-two  years  after 
Allah's  death.  He  twice  came  in  conflict  with  Jehu, 
whom  he  wrongly  calls  the  "  son  of  Omri"  !  Surely 
we  shall  not  change  our  ]>ible  record  to  suit  these 
errors  of  the  inscriptions  !  It  is  only  a  verlKil  mis- 
take, but  it  is  a  mistake  in  the  bricks.  Jehu  was  the 
son  of  Nimshi,  who  destroyed  the  house  of  Omri- 
Ahab,  and  seated  himself  on  their  throne,  according 
to  the  word  of  Elijah  (1  Kings  19  :  10  ;  2  Kings,  chap- 
ters 9  and  10).  Yet  we  m;iy  accept  the  Assyrian  ac- 
count that  he  paid  tribute  to  Shalmaneser  II.  or  to  his 
predecessor,  Eimmon-nirari  II.,  .  .  .  ^'  bars  of  silver, 
bars  of  gold,  a  golden  bowl,  a  golden  ladle,  golden 
goblets,  golden  pitchers,  bars  of  lead,  a  staff  for  the 
hand  of  the  king,  and  shafts  of  spears,"  a  great  many 
things  of  no  great  value,  but  paid  to  Shalmaneser's 
father.  The  text  may  be  seen  in  Schrader's  "  Cunei- 
form Inscriptions"  (p.  199).  Another  fragment  says 
that  Shalmaneser  II.  ^'  received  tribute  of  the  Tyrians, 
Sidonians,  and  of  Jehu  ;"  this  was  about  81:2  B.C. 
Thus  early  was  the  independence  of  the  Northern 
Kingdom  assailed.  Indeed,  an  inscription  of  Tiglath- 
pileser  I.  about  1100  B.C.  and  in  the  time  of  Samuel's 
judgeship  says  :  ''  With  the  assistance  of  Assur, 
Samas,  and  Hamman,  the  great  gods,  the  King  of 
Assyria,  ruling  from  the  great  sea  of  the  west  country 
[Mediterranean]  to  the  sea  of  the  land  of  Nairi, 
marched  three  times."  That  west  country  probably 
included    Phoenicia-Palestine  and  Philistia,  to  which 


148  JAPIIETH  CRITICISES 

Israel  was  then  partly  subject.  Only  indirectly  could 
it  be  said  to  be  under  Assyrian  domination.  Tiglath 
does  not  say  that  he  conquered  them,  but  only  as 
*'  ruling  from  the  great  sea."  He  does  not  claim  to 
be  receiving  tribute  from  Israel  then,  which  his  annals 
would  have  claimed  had  the  facts  justified.  As  they 
read,  they  ilhistrate  how  the  inscriptions  were  wont  to 
embellish  rather  than  omit  royal  exploits,  and  are  cer- 
tainly not  more  reliable  than  our  Biblical  accounts. 
Yet  Renansays  :  "  It  is  only  by  modern  criticism  and 
philology  that  an  insight  has  been  obtained  into  the 
truth  of  these  ancient  texts.  These,  trustworthy  in 
their  way,  with  theocratic  after-touches  and  sacerdotal 
revisions,  are  often  met  one  upon  another  in  the  same 
paragraph,  requiring  a  practised  eye  to  detect  them. 
The  different  wordings  and  the  scissors  of  compilers 
capriciously  used  often  make  impossible  the  attempt 
to  sort  them  out"  (p.  21).  But  after  this  brief  exam- 
ination we  can  see  how  very  much  more  of  doubt  and 
uncertainty  he  suggests  than  his  citations  or  the  in- 
criptions  warrant.  Keuss,  Graf,  Kuenen,  Noeldeke, 
Wellhausen,  and  Stade  do  not  prove  his  version  of 
how  things  may  have  been.  In  going  through  his 
first  volume  I  marked  every  passage  of  seeming  im- 
portance, and  hav^e  now  fairly  considered  most  of 
them.  In  "  God  Enthroned  in  Redemption"  (p2>. 
61,  62),  I  anticipated  what  might  be  said  here  of 
"  Moses  meeting  Elohim  in  mountain  defiles,"  and  the 
attempt  to  mystify  the  Divine  Personality  (Renan, 
(p.  28).  No  ;  the  Ten  Commandments  will  not 
budge  at  his  bidding.  Jaliveh  then  as  now  reigns 
over  all,  and  gives  laws  to  all,  amid  the  thunders  of 


JACOB'S  BOOKS.  149 

Sinai,  or  by  the  voice  of  conscience  speaking  in  the 
hearts  of  men.  Equally  in  the  thunder  and  in  the 
whisper  a  Personal  (Jod  speaks,  and  speaks  to  be  re- 
garded :  not  often  to  destroy,  but  to  guide  and  save. 

The  learned  logomachy  about  redaction,  compila- 
tion, and  use  of  the  scissors  linds  its  sufficient  answer 
jn  the  fact  that  each  inspired  writer  and  editor  did  for 
his  time  precisely  what  was  then  needed  for  that 
time  ;  adding  to  the  historical  parts  of  sacred  history 
to  date,  explaining  the  laws,  enforcing  its  precepts, 
composing  its  Psalms,  combining  scattered  accounts, 
and  making  the  whole  more  complete  and  adapted  to 
the  new  conditions  of  new  generations.  This  culmi- 
nated and,  so  far  as  we  know,  ended  for  the  Old  Testa- 
ment under  Ezra  after  the  Exile,  and  with  the  prophets 
to  Malachi.  They  were  enabled  to  judge  under  the 
guidance  of  the  Spirit  of  Truth  what  was  of  God's 
truth  for  future  use  to  men.  Thus  it  had  been  from 
Abraham  to  Moses,  when  revelation  was  small  in  vol- 
ume, and  when  it  was  added  to  under  Moses  the  peo- 
ple knew  what  was  God's  truth  for  them.  So  it  was 
under  Samnel  and  Nathan,  Ilosea  and  Amos,  Elijah 
and  Isaiah.  Under  Judges  and  Kings  the  Law  of  the 
Lord  was,  or  might  be,  as  well  known  to  the  men  of 
Israel  as  the  laws  of  the  Government  at  Washington, 
applicable  to  the  several  States,  are  known  by  Ameri- 
cans. For  Israel  was  a  federation  of  tribes  having 
Jahveh  for  their  Head,  who  was  honored  by  being 
obeyed.  Hence  He  was  to  be  worshipped  at  His  sanc- 
tuary. Hence  loyalty  was  seen  in  Sabbath  observance 
and  sacririce  at  His  altars.  Hence  exhortations  to 
obedience  to  the  Divine  covenant ;  for  national  loyally 


150  JAPHETU  CRITICISES 

implied  faithfulness  to  Israel's  God,  just  as  regard 
for  the  laws  aud  for  the  liag  are  implied  in  faith- 
fulness to  our  America.  The  Law  of  the  Covenaut 
was  to  be  kept  in  the  Ark  of  God,  and  a  copy  of  the 
appointed  ritual  was  preserved  beside  the  Ark.  (See 
Dent.  9  :  9  ;  31  :  24-26  ;  2  Kings  22  :  8-11.)  The 
priests  would  seem  to  have  been  the  guardians  of  the 
books,  and  were  aided  by  prophets  in  expounding 
them.  Only  by  their  consent  could  additions  and  ex- 
positions be  made.  Each  king  was  required  to  have  a 
copy  of  the  law  which  he  executed  (Dent.  17  :  18-20). 
Probably  another  copy  was  made  by  each  school  of 
prophets.  New  Psalms  were  composed  from  time  to 
time  for  public  use  and  to  be  sung  in  the  service  of 
the  temple.  Thus  the  sacred  books  were  authenti- 
cated, edited,  and  copies  of  them  multiplied.  Each 
copy  was  security  for  others  ;  the  priests  and  prophets 
were  joint  security  for  all.  Thus  the  Hebrew  Scrip- 
tures became, ^j>a7'  excellence^  the  Bible  for  future  gener- 
ations. Such  authentication  is  what  no  other  books 
possess,  while  it  marks  the  Bible  as  the  Word  of  God 
for  all  His  people. 

That  Word  has  been  preserved  to  this  day  with  re- 
markable care  and  exactness.  Two  centuries  before 
our  era  it  was  translated  into  Greek  at  Alexandria, 
and  was  the  best  and  fullest  example  of  Alexandrine 
literature,  as  the  Greek  Testament  was  of  the  Syrian 
Greek  literature.  Thus  in  the  Old  Testament  and  in 
the  New  we  have  the  best  example  of  the  Greek  lan- 
guage in  each  period,  as  the  Hebrew  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment was  for  its  day.  Jewish  colonies  in  most  of  the 
centres  of  Koman  civilization  rendered  translation  of 


JACOB'S  BOOKS.  151 

the  Hebrew  Scriptures  necessary.  This  required 
authentication  of  them,  and  niulti))lication  of  copies. 
From  Ezra  and  Malachi,  tlie  hist  inspired  editors,  to 
the  commencement  of  its  translation  into  Greek,  the 
time  was  too  short  for  spurious  books  or  amended 
copies  to  pass  as  genuine.  Each  book  must  be  known 
at  its  true,  recognized  value  before  it  passed  to  the 
translators  at  Alexandria.  From  the  tenth  century 
B.C.  onward  prophets  like  Elijah  and  Elisha,  Joel  and 
Hosea,  Amos,  Micah,  and  Isaiah  must  have  known  the 
sacred  books,  and  they  had  the  courage  to  repudiate 
and  denounce  the  false.  Never  was  Israel  without  a 
witness  or  without  a  testimony  or  law  of  God  ;  never 
before  the  Roman  era  were  all  the  people  driven  from 
the  land  of  their  birth.  After  Sargon  there  were  tens 
of  thousands  of  Israelites  left  in  the  country  of  which 
Samaria  had  been  the  chief  city  ;  after  Nebuchadnez- 
zar there  were  other  thousands  of  Hebrews  left  who 
had  gone  up  to  Jerusalem  to  worship.  Among  these 
it  would  be  rash  to  say  that  not  one  copy  of  the  Pen- 
tateuch, nor  of  the  prophets  who  had  then  written, 
nor  of  the  Psalms  which  had  been  chanted  in  the  tem- 
ple and  committed  to  memory,  then  existed  in  Israel, 
and  that  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  at  that  date  could  not 
be  found  in  Palestine.  No  ;  we  are  not  restricted  to 
the  existence  of  but  one  Hebrew  copy  of  the  Bible. 
Private  copies,  we  may  believe,  were  ever  accessible, 
which  could  verify  the  official  in  the  possession  of 
prophets  and  of  priests,  and  as  read  at  the  three  great 
festivals.  Nor  is  it  too  much  to  assume  that  many 
who  returned  with  Ezra  could  verify  his  text  of  Scrip- 
ture as  easily  as  they  could  compare  or  contrast  the 


152  JAPUETII  CRITICISES 

new  temple  with  the  greater  magnificence  of  the  old 
one  destroyed.  Pliilometer,  who  is  called  the  good 
Ptolemy,  and  who  was  killed  e.g.  l-iG,  consented  to 
build  a  temple  at  Bubastis,  after  the  model  of  the 
Jerusalem  temple,  to  be  dedicated  to  Jehovah,  where 
should  minister  Jewish  priests  and  Levites,  and  in 
which  Pliilometer,  his  queen  and  children,  should  be 
honored  as  Seolawaoi,  or  companion  gods,  as  was 
then  the  fashion  in  Egypt  (Mahaffy's  '^  Greek  Life 
and  Thought,"  pp.  501,  508  ;  Josephus,  Book  13, 
chapters  3,  4  ;  Isaiah  19  ;  19).  Hence  arose  the  tem- 
ple at  Leontopolis,  which  lasted  till  a.d  70.  It  shows 
the  deep  interest  which  Alexandrian  Jews  and  Egyptian 
rulers  took  in  their  writings  and  their  ritual.  The 
new  learning  at  that  centre  produced  fresh  and  im- 
proved copies  of  the  text  of  earlier  writers  both  in 
sacred  and  secular  literature.  Justin  Martyr,  a  Greek 
convert  to  Christianity,  testifies  to  Moses,  Isaiah,  Jere- 
miah, and  Daniel.  Origen,  in  the  second  century  a.d.  , 
took  great  pains  to  collate  and  arrange  Hebrew  and 
Greek  versions  of  the  Bible.  These  Jerome  had  to 
aid  him  in  his  Latin  version  two  hundred  years  later, 
and  since  then  there  has  been  vast  labor  expended  on 
the  sacred  volume.  Josephus,  Justin,  Origen,  the 
whole  Christian  Church,  and  our  Lord  Himself,  testify 
to  the  Law,  the  Prophets,  and  the  Psalms  of  the  Old 
Testament,  the  three  divisions  into  which  it  was  then 
classed  and  divided.  They  reached  back  in  two  short 
centuries  to  the  era  of  the  Alexandrian  version,  and 
that  in  two  more  centuries  reached  back  to  the  laet 
Old  Testament  prophets.  So  the  apostle  might  truly 
say,  we  have  a  very  sure  word  of  prophecy.     Keligious 


JACOB'S  BOOKS.  153 

sects,  Samaria  upon  Jernsaloin,  and  Jerusalem,  witli  her 
colonies,  upon  all,  were  i»;nardians  of  the  Scriptures. 
Devout  men  watched  the  text  of  the  several  books,  and 
that  no  unnuthorized  additions  were  made.  The  law 
and  the  history  find  illustration  in  the  Prophets  and 
the  Psalms.  The  119th  Psalm  is  a  good  exposition  of 
the  spiritual  meaning  of  the  Law,  and  may  express  the 
writer's  opinion  of  Deuteronomy.  The  statutes  of 
Jahveh  were  his  study  day  and  night.  Thus  Jacob 
certifies  to  the  Divine  AVord  for  Japheth.  Appointed 
judges,  anointed  priests  and  kings,  inspired  prophets 
composed,  expounded,  and  authenticated  that  Word 
for  Israel  and  the  world.  It  is  not  an  ipse  dixit  of 
any  one  rnan.  Its  history  demonstrates  its  character 
and  purpose,  resting  upon  evidence  which  commands 
conviction  of  its  truth. 

Any  occasional  or  protracted  lapse  from  the  law  or 
the  ritual  was  met  by  the  voice  of  warning  prophets, 
^'  who  burned  with  anger  over  the  abuses  of  the  world, 
and  whom  to-day  we  should  denounce  as  socialists  and 
anarchists.  They  were  impetuous  in  the  cause  of  jus- 
tice ;  if  they  could  not  reform  they  would  destroy  the 
world.  This  led  to  deeds  of  heroism,  and  awakened 
the  forces  of  humanity.  The  founders  of  Christianity 
were  successors  of  the  prophets,  invoked  the  end  of 
the  world,  and  so  transformed  it."  This  strong  testi- 
mony of  Renan  (p.  10)  makes  against  his  theory  that 
Jahveh  was  only  a  local  god.  "  For  the  Bible,"  he 
says,  ^'  is  the  great  book  of  consolation  for  huvianity. 
The  prophecies  of  the  ninth  century  b.c.  have  their 
root  in  the  ancient  ideal  of  patriarchal  life — an  ideal 
partly  of  the  imagination,  but  it  was  a  reality  in  the 
7* 


154  JAPUETU  CRITICISES 

past  of  Israel.  It  lay  at  the  root  of  a  movement 
which  swept  the  world  along  with  it."  Now  those 
prophets  were  Elijah  and  Micaiah,  Elisha  and  Joel, 
all  true  and  earnest  men  of  God,  but  not  the  origi- 
nators of  their  religion.  The  root  of  the  movement 
which  swept  the  world  along  with  it  dates  from  the 
patriarch  who  left  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  sojourned  for 
a  time  in  Haran,  and  then  travelled  southward  to 
Shechem,  Bethel,  and  Beersheba,  thus  taking  posses- 
sion of  the  land  promised  him  by  his  covenant  God. 
''  A  small  tribe  in  an  outlandish  corner  of  Syria  sup- 
plied the  void  which  Greece  never  felt  of  the  need  of 
a  just  God  and  a  universal  religion."  T/iat^  and  not 
''  Greece  herself,  is  the  greatest  miracle  on  earth." 
That  has  given  mankind  a  universal  rehgion  and  a 
Bible  for  the  world.     O  that  Renan  saw  this  ! 

Moreover,  if  the  inspiration  of  God  was  given  to 
men  for  the  preparation  of  the  Coining  One  centuries 
before  He  came,  why  may  not  Divine  inspiration  have 
enabled  Hebrew  legislators  to  formulate  laws  for  that 
nation  in  anticipation  of  its  actual  needs  ?  The  two, 
in  fact,  are  often  found  together  in  Holy  Scripture  ; 
prophets,  judges,  kings,  uniting  in  edicts  and  exhorta- 
tion for  observance  of  the  law  and  for  the  worship  of 
God.  A  "  thus  saith  Jaliveh"  both  enjoined  and  ex- 
jplained  His  will.  But  from  the  positiveness  which 
some  critics  now  assume,  one  might  suppose  that  im- 
portant discoveries  had  been  made  in  the  text  of  the 
Old  Testament,  which  at  least  warranted,  if  they  did 
not  suggest,  a  new  method  of  interpretation.  But 
examination  shows  that  Professor  Green,  of  Princeton, 
for  example,  has  possession  of  all  the  facts  and  data 


JACOB'S  BOOKS.  155 

possessed  by  Professors  Kuenen  and  Wellhansen — i.e.^ 
the  same  text  and  the  same  mss.  I  have  looked  through 
Kiienen's  *'  Critical  Inquiry  into  the  Hexateuch,"  of 
1886,  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  the  grounds  upon 
which  he  bases  his  claims  for  a  late  origin  of  the  Pen- 
tateuch as  we  have  it,  and  why  he  relegates  now  one 
part  to  the  reign  of  Solomon,  now  anotlier  to  Ileze- 
kiah,  nov/  another  to  Josiah,  now  another  to  some 
post-exilic  date,  while  allowing  this  or  that  part  to  the 
era  of  the  Exodus.  But  I  fail  to  find  any  stronger 
reason  for  such  redistribution  of  the  several  portions 
than  that,  ajyviori^  they  are  legislation  in  anticipation 
of  the  national  history !  In  a  word,  it  is  an  *'  I 
think"  against  '*  thus  it  is  written."  Such  and  such 
things  were  not  enacted  till  after  the  settlement  in 
Canaan,  hecause  it  was  not  needed,  not  called  for  ! 
That  is  the  method  of  procedure.  As  ropes,  for  ex- 
ample, were  before  hanging  and  trees  before  fruit,  so 
offenses  were  before  the  enactment  of  penalties,  and 
before  the  laws  which  enforced  them  ;  the  law  of  the 
Sabbath  before  penalty  for  its  violation  ;  settlement 
in  Canaan  before  cities  of  refuge.  These  critics,  how- 
ever, admit  that  Hebrew  prophets  exhorted  the  peo- 
ple to  obey  a  law  which  existed  before  the  reformation 
under  Josiah,  and  before  the  reformation  of  Ileze- 
kiah  ;  that  Amos,  Ilosea,  Micah,  Isaiah,  and  perhaps 
Joel,  delivered  such  utterances  about  the  law  which 
prove  it  must  have  been  well  known  in  the  nintli  cen- 
tury B.C.  ;  and  that  Elijah  complained,  "  Lord,  they 
have  broken  down  Thy  altars,  slain  Thy  prophets, 
and  I  only  am  left  in  Israel  !"  But  the  Divine  answer 
told  him  that  seven  thousand  were  still  faithful  to  the 


156  JAPEETII  CRITICISES 

law  of  the  covenant  in  that  apostate  kind.  Isaiah  also 
complained  that  Judah  had  transgressed  the  laws^ 
changed  the  ordinance,  broken  the  everlasting  cove- 
nant ;  hence  a  curse  upon  the  land  (2-Jr  :  5  ;  compare 
34  :  10).  That  was  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  eighth 
century  b.c.  The  antiquity  of  these  prophecies  is  un- 
questioned. No  recent  "findings"  qualify  them; 
though  some  ask  what  law  was  meant  ?  Professor 
Briggs,  of  the  Union  Theological  Seminary,  who  is  not 
likely  to  die  of  conservatism,  holds  to  this  old  legal 
teaching  of  the  prophets  named  above  ("  Messianic 
Prophecy,"  pp.  109-219).  The  exhortations  to  obey 
legal  requirements  imply  their  existence.  Though 
often  blended  with  predictions  of  the  Coming  One, 
they  cannot  be  relegated  to  a  later  date  than  when 
spoken.  All  fair  principles  of  interpretation  suggest 
that  the  commentai*y  and  the  urging  to  obedience  were 
later  than  the  laws  so  enforced.  Laws  existed  before 
exposition  and  penalty.  Transgression  was  only  pass- 
ing beyond  what  was  permitted.  The  eye  of  the 
great  legislator  foresaw  by  prophetic  vision  the  needs 
of  his  people.  Hence  much  of  his  code  was  antic- 
ipatory of  actual  needs,  and  clearly  referable  to  later 
requirements.  To  assume  that  nothing  anticipatory 
in  legislation  is  to  be  received  as  genuine  and  historic 
is  to  sweep  away  a  large  part  of  those  national  codes 
which  are  supposed  to  have  originated  in  the  early 
ao'es  of  mankind.  Indeed,  those  nations  which  have 
made  the  largest  mark  in  the  world's  history  are 
all  guilty  of  anticipatory  legislation — Egypt  by  her 
Menes  and  "  13uok  of  tlie  Dead  ;"  Eran  l)y  her  Zoro- 
aster ;  India  by  her  "  Yedic  Hymns  ;"   China  by  her 


JACOB'S  BOOKS.  157 

Confucius  ;  Spurta  by  her  Lycurgus  ;  Athens  by  her 
Solon  ;  Koine  by  lier  Nunia  ;  Uabylonia  by  her  "  Lit- 
urgy and  Saints'  Calendar  ;"  Darius  in  reorganizing 
his  enipire  ;  Charlemagne  in  legislation  for  the  Franks  ; 
William  and  his  Normans  legislating  for  England  ; 
Napoleon  in  his  "  code"  for  France.  Not  till  these 
can  be  explained  away  can  critics  explain  away  the 
anticipatory  legislation  of  the  Hebrews  from  Moses  to 
David.  When  you  have  hloited  out  the  Samaritan 
Pentateuch^  and  have  discovered  genuine  mss.  and  an 
authenticated  text,  which  contain  no  aniicijpatory 
enactments  for  Israel^  then^  hat  not  till  then^  can  you 
decide  upon  all  the  dates  of  Hebrew  legislation.  \¥e 
have  no  fears  for  the  results  of  any  discoveries,  what- 
ever they  may  be — Sinaitic,  Alexandrian,  Jerusalem, 
or  Vatican.  The  Law  of  the  Covenant,  much  of  the 
ritual  for  worship  and  sacrifice,  laws  respecting  vows, 
Nazarites,  eating  flesh  with  the  blood,  prohibiting 
witchcraft,  and  limiting  the  royal  prerogative  of 
Israel's  king,  were  before  the  establishment  of  the 
Hebrew  monarchy. 

Moreover,  we  need  stronger  evidence  than  that  of 
Nabonidos,  that  "  Naram-Sin,  the  son  of  Sargon, 
founded  the  temple  of  the  sun-god  at  Sippara,  b.c. 
3750  years."  And  as  this  is  the  now  accepted  date  by 
many  current  writers— Professor  Sayce,  the  new  Cham- 
bers' Encycloptedia,  etc. — we  are  surprised  to  see  how 
little  noticed  this  chronological  revolution  has  been, 
which  radically  changes  so  much  of  previously  received 
Babylonian  data,  library  collections,  culture,  and  gov- 
ernmental development.  As  it  adds  about  two  thou- 
sand years  to  the  supposed  chronology   heretofore  fol- 


158  JAPIIETU  GRITICI8E8 

lowed,  it  is  worth  considering  whether  we  are  criti- 
cally historical  in  accepting  those  additional  two  thou- 
sand years  without  some  further  proof.  I  base  my 
reason  for  rejecting  these  added  millenniums,  at  pres- 
ent, upon  the  facts  of  history,  Babylonian  and  Egyp- 
tian. We  all  know  that  in  Egyptian  history  the  era 
and  dates  of  several  dynasties  were  contemporaneous. 
This,  I  suggest,  was  so  with  the  tables  of  those  Baby- 
lonian kings  mentioned  by  Nabonidos,  found  in  that 
Cyprian  temple. 

Consider  :  Sargon  I.  was  the  great  unifier  of  Baby- 
lonia, and  consolidated  the  adjacent  princedoms  into 
one  nation — viz.,  his  own  Agade  and  Ur,  with  Baby- 
lon, Nipur,  Sippara,  and  Zerghul  ;  but  it  was  not  till 
the  reign  of  Kammurabi,  the  third  in  succession 
after  Sargon  I.,  that  Babylon  was  made  the  capital 
of  the  empire.  And  so  Sargon' s  so7i  actually  incor- 
porated into  one  series  the  names  of  all  the  kings 
or  princes  of  those  districts  which  the  father  had  ab- 
sorbed and  consolidated  into  the  new  empire  over 
which  Naram-Sin  reigned.  It  is  assuredly  jyrobahle 
that  such  a  reckoning  was  made  for  the  twofold  pur- 
pose of  glorifying  his  ancestry  and  of  conciliating  his 
subject  peoples,  who  were  restive  under  his  govern- 
ment, when  they  remembered  their  former  and  larger 
liberties.  Example  of  this  procedure  he  had  in 
Egypt,  while  thus  lauding  the  antiquity  of  his  royal 
ancestors.  Indeed,  I  have  seen  this  principle  acted 
upon  in  certain  incorporated  institutions  of  New  York, 
and  I  feel  confident  that  it  explains  the  tables  of  the 
long  list  of  kings  claimed  by  Naram  Sin  as  his  pred- 
ecessors.     It  is  literally  true  that  he  was  the  successor 


JACOB'S  BOOKS.  159 

of  each  king  or  prince  of  each  of  the  united  districts 
of  his  empire.  And  lie  needed  to  be  strengtiiened  on 
his  throne  ;  hence  the  claim  of  a  long  line  of  ancestors 
was  a  short  and  pretty  sure  way  of  doing  it.  Hence 
his  royal  and  thus  lengthened  pedigree.  A  thousand 
years  later  Sargon  II.  of  Assyria  likewise  claimed  de- 
scent from  certain  kings  whom  he  called  by  name — 
viz.,  Eel-bani  and  Adasi,  which  claim  his  courtiers 
readily  admitted.  But  both  these  Sargons  were  prob- 
ably'Z^5'w;yj>^r^,  certainly  the  latter.  And  "the  three 
hundred  and  fifty  kings"  said  to  have  preceded  Sargon 
I.  doubtless  included  all  those  who  had  reigned  over 
the  several  districts  which  his  arms  subjugated.  They 
are  easily  embraced  in  our  former  chronology,  four 
fifths  being  contemporary  princes.  Wherefore  there 
is  no  present  cause  for  changing  "  the  bloom  of  Ac- 
cadian  poetry"  to  a  period  before  2300  b.c.  We 
thank  translators  for  telling  us  what  the  inscriptions 
say,  but  we  claijn  the  right  to  explain  those  sayings 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  times  and  the  methods 
of  procedure  then  and  now  practised. 


VII. 

THE    ERA    OF    SAMUEL    AND    DAYTD  : 
JACOB'S  BIBLE   THEN. 

We  have  to  deal  with  these  celebrated  Hebrews  in 
their  oflicial  relations  with  the  theocracy.  Personally 
they  stand  hii^h  upon  the  roll  of  fame.  To  call  Sani- 
nel  the  Aristides  of  his  country  is  to  put  an  incident 
for  a  character,  apart  for  the  whole.  Samuel,  indeed, 
was  an  example  of  justice  ;  he  was  also  the  Reformer 
and  organizer  of  a  scattered  and  disunited  people  whom 
he  moulded  into  a  nation.  Its  centre  was  now  at 
Ramah,  now  at  Mizpeh,  now  at  Gilgal,  and  then  trans- 
ferred by  David  to  Jerusalem.  In  their  civic  position 
they  represent  to  us  Washington  as  the  first  President 
of  America,  while  in  their  religious  position  they  rep- 
resent the  body  of  American  clergy  in  bringing  the 
people  to  the  God  of  their  fathers,  who  had  given 
them  a  free  country  and  a  Divine  religion. 

From  Joshua  to  Eli  the  centre  of  worship  and  of 
tribal  meetino^s  was  Sliiloh.  There  only  durino-  that 
period  atoning  sacH'ifices  could  be  offered  for  the  peo- 
ple. The  catastrophe  which  led  to  the  capture  of  the 
Ark  also  involved  the  death  of  Eli  and  his  sons.  There 
was  no  high  priest  left  in  Israel.  Samuel  was  but  a 
Levite  in  j^edigree,  though  a  highly-honored  prophet 


JACOB'S  BIBLE  TUEN.  161 

of  Jehovah.  At  his  home  in  Kaniah,  he  built  an 
altar,  and  offered  sacrifices  there  and  at  other  centres 
of  assembly  ;  but  they  were  sacriiices  which  acknowl- 
edged Jehovah's  victory  over  the  Philistines  ;  which 
recognized  Him  as  the  Bestower  of  tribal  blessings,  or 
renewed  the  kingdom  before  Him,  with  Saul  as  its 
earthly  sovereign,  while  the  Lord  alone  was  their 
King  ;  sacrifices  of  thanksgiving,  of  invocation,  and 
of  worship  might  properly  be  offered  by  Samuel  or  by 
Elijah,  but  not  sacrifices  of  propitiation  and  atonement 
for  sin  ;  these  were  prescribed  to  be  offered  by  the 
priest  alone  before  the  door  of  the  tent  or  tabernacle. 
And  from  the  capture  of  the  Ark  to  its  reinstatement 
in  the  tabernacle  by  David,  who  brought  it  from  the 
house  of  Abinadab  to  Jerusalem,  there  is  no  record  of 
prescribed  sacrifices  of  atonement  for  the  nation's  sin 
(2  Sam.  6).  The  call  for  Ahijah  to  bring  the  Ark  of 
God  to  Saul  (1  Sam.  14  :  18),  was  for  a  different 
purpose.  Chapter  22  relates  how  Saul  himself  had 
put  Ahimelech  and  the  priests  of  Nob  to  death  ;  the 
young  Abiathar  alone  escaped  to  David  for  protection. 
Thus  no  sacrifices  of  atonement  were  made  at  the 
door  of  the  tent  of  the  Ark  during  all  that  time.  The 
burnt-offering  of  a  lamb  in  1  Samuel  7  :  9  was  for 
invocation  of  the  God  of  Israel  against  Philistines, 
which  any  prophet  or  national  chief  might  properly 
offer,  as  had  been  the  custom  from  Abraham  to  David 
at  the  threshing-floor  of  Araunah  (2  Sam.  24  :  18-25). 
Hence,  while  sacrifices  for  purposes  of  atonement  for 
sin  were  localized  at  the  place  of  the  Ark,  other  sacri- 
fices were  not  thus  restricted  in  Israel.  The  best  ex- 
planation of  the  meaning  of  a  law  is  the  practice  under 


102  ERA   OF  DAVID. 

it  soon  after  its  enactment.  Thus  we  interpret  the  seem- 
ingly restrictive  passages  in  Deuteronomy  12,  which 
were  doubtless  known  to  Samuel  and  David.  (Comp. 
Lev.  Q:Q',  5  :  14-19  ;  19  :  21  ;  17  :  9  ;  16  :  33,  34.) 
So  of  1  Samuel  14,  which  mentions  Saul's  calling  for 
the  Ark  of  God  ;  it  certifies  to  the  fact  of  its  being 
with  Israel  at  that  time,  while  the  related  verses  tell 
of  his  rash  objurgation,  made  obligatory  by  the  law 
then  known  and  understood,  against  eating  flesh  with 
the  blood  in  it  (verses  24-35  ;  Lev.  17  :  13,  14  ; 
19  :  26  ;  Deut.  12  :  16  ;  23  :  21-23  ;  ^"um.  30  :  2)  ; 
passages  of  high  antiquity.  So  the  later  incident  of 
Saul's  life,  when  he  inquired  of  the  Witch  of  Endor, 
certifies  to  the  law  and  its  penalty  (Lev.  20  :  6  Ex. 
22  :  18  ;  Deut.  18  :  10,  11).  Saul  had  himself  cut 
off  those  that  had  familiar  spirits  in  obedience  to  that 
same  law,  and  had  disguised  himself  so  as  not  to  be 
known  by  the  woman  whose  aid  he  sought  (1  Sam. 
28  :  3,  8-10).  I  repeat,  the  practice  under  a  law 
proves  its  existence,  and  illustrates  its  meaning.  Shiloh 
even  when  desolate,  Samuel  at  Ramah,  Saul  lamenting 
that  God  no  longer  answered  him,  neither  by  dreams, 
nor  by  Urim,  nor  by  prophets,  suggest  what  comfort 
the  Hebrew  had  in  inquiring  of  his  Covenant  God  at 
His  Sanctuary. 

Our  study  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  of  that  time 
shows  that  they  tended  to  produce  one  grand  result — 
viz.,  to  mould  and  educate  a  people  to  conserve  the 
true  knowledge  and  worship  of  God  among  men,  and 
to  bring  the  nations  to  Him  for  Redemption  through 
His  Son.  Tlie  same  Spirit  breathes  in  all  Divine  agents 
to  this  end,  the  same  Hand  guides  in  all  Divine  provi- 


I 


JACOB'S  BIBLE  THEN.  163 

dences.  Tlie  snpeniatTiral  permeates  all  the  series  of 
preparations  for  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  During 
many  aij^es  it  seemed  that  the  chosen  people  were  those 
alone  for  whom  Jehovah  manifested  Himself  ;  made  a 
way  for  them  through  the  Red  Sea,  through  the  wil- 
derness, across  the  eTordan  ;  threw  down  the  walls  of 
Jericho,  destroyed  wicked  Canaanites,  crushed  Moab 
and  Jabin,  Immbled  the  Philistines.  His  epiphanies 
were  for  Abraham  and  Jacob,  Moses  and  Joshua, 
Othniel  and  Gideon,  Deborah  and  Barak,  for  father 
Manoah,  ISTazarite  Samson,  and  the  rash  Jephthah. 
Then  He  appeared  to  Samuel  as  the  vindicator  of  His 
Law  against  the  sons  of  Eli,  whose  merited  death  caused 
his  own,  through  shock  at  their  fate  and  the  capture 
of  the  Ark.  Never  again  did  the  glory  of  Israel  re- 
turn to  Sliiloh.  The  sun  of  that  place  went  down 
with  Eli's  house.  With  Samuel  was  ushered  in  a  new 
and  national  era,  a  school  of  prophets  for  the  Hebrew 
people,  and  a  king  for  their  state.  He  should  lead 
their  armies  to  victory  over  enemies  far  and  near,  over 
Amalek  and  Midian,  Moab  and  Philistia. 

I  can  see  no  reason  for  minimizing  Samuel  while 
lauding  Elijah,  as  is  now  the  fashion  with  some  critics. 
He  was  a  judge  and  organizer,  prophet  and  priest, 
while  Elijah  was  a  voice  of  warning  from  the  wilder- 
ness, an  ascetic  in  life,  a  reformer  who  struck  at  the 
root  of  evils.  Both  had  a  Divine  mission  to  fullil,  and 
they  fulfilled  it.  They  were  two  centuries  apart  in 
time,  which  largely  accounts  for  the  different  charac- 
ter of  their  work.  Elijah  wrote  one  notable  letter, 
Samuel  compiled  some  national  annals  ;  Elijah  anointed 
two  avenging  kings,  Samuel  anointed  the  first  and  the 


164  ERA   OK  DAVID, 

second  king  of  Israel,  who  unified  the  tribes,  consoli- 
dated the  government,  and  established  the  kingdom, 
of  which  he  wrote  the  account  and  laid  it  by  the  Ark 
of  the  LoKD  (1  Sam.  10  :  25).  Even  Renan  admits 
the  practice  of  writing  in  Israel  at  this  period,  and 
that  progress  was  made  in  the  art  under  David  (vol. 
i.,  pp.  309-311).  He  seems  to  forget  that  it  was  the 
eleventh  century  b.c,  and  only  two  centuries  after  the 
Exodus  ;  an  era  of  wars  and  adjustments  not  favorable 
to  the  literary  art.  That  it  then  flourished  in  the 
school  of  the  prophets  and  elsewhere  disproves  the 
theory  of  Israel's  previous  illiteracy. 

Under  Samuel  were  formed  guilds  for  the  educa- 
tion of  young  men  in  the  law  of  God  and  for  service 
in  the  State.  They  became  advisers  of  the  king, 
teachers  of  moral  and  political  economy  among  a  peo- 
ple who  were  fast  becoming  a  nation.  They  pointed 
out  the  real  bond  which  held  the  tribes  together. 
Heretofore  it  was  much  like  that  which  united  our 
colonies  after  their  Independence,  not  strong,  nor  de- 
fined, but  felt  ;  now  it  was  to  be  understood  and  ac- 
knowledged, a  unio7i  of  which  God  Himself  was  the 
centre  and  head.  The  new  prophets  expounded  this 
idea  with  greater  emphasis  than  priestly  teachers. 
They  were  preachers  of  righteousness  in  prnice  and 
peasant  ;  Divine  agents  for  uttering  the  Divine  voice 
to  men  ;  literally  ''  men  of  God  "  in  a  higher  sense 
than  Levites  ;  they  w^ere  cohens  or  priestly  function- 
aries armed  with  supernal  powers,  seers  of  what 
others  could  not  see,  and  readers  of  the  inward 
thoughts  of  those  who  consulted  them.  Samuel  in  his 
dealings  with  Saul,  Nathan  with  David,  Elisha   with 


■    JACOB'S  BIBLE  THEN.  1G5 

riazael,  the  minister  of  Ben-liaclad  King  of  Syria,  il- 
Instrate  this  power  of  ])rop]ietic  tlionglit-reading. 
Dwelling  at  Damascus  or  in  Israel,  the  prophet  read 
the  mind  of  the  royal  messenger,  divined  the  conduct 
of  his  servant  Gehazi,  jnst  as  Ahijali  had  discovered 
the  wife  of  Jeroboam  in  s]nte  of  her  disgnises,  when 
she  consulted  him  about  the  recovery  of  the  young 
prince  (1  Kings  14  ;  2  Kings  5  and  8  ;  1  Sam.  9  and 
10).  Such  powers  are  as  wonderful  as  miracle,  and 
must  have  been  of  vast  influence  with  the  people. 
Distant  from  the  Ark  of  God,  at  Damascus,  at  Shiloh, 
at  Carmel,  at  Gilgal,  without  an  epliod  or  a  breast- 
plate, wherever  one  found  a  prophet  of  Israel  there  he 
might  learn  the  will  of  God  toward  him  and  hear  the 
Yoice  of  a  speaking  oracle.  The  attested  facts  admit 
of  no  other  explanation.  At  the  door  of  the  Taber- 
nacle and  at  the  house  of  the  Seer  Jacob  might  receive 
the  w^ord  of  Jehovah  for  himself  and  for  Japheth. 
This  alone  suggests  the  influence  of  Samuel  and 
Nathan  with  Saul  and  David,  as  well  as  the  terror 
which  Elijah  caused  in  Ahab,  wlio  dared  not  hurt  him, 
when  he  could  hardly  tolerate  his  presence,  leaving  to 
liis  Zidonian  wife  to  be  avenged  without  scruple. 

In  face  of  the  record  Renan  says  that  "  Samuel  was 
always  Saul's  dreaded  prophet,"  yet  he  "  had  been 
]iis  good  genius  ;  deprived  of  him  he  could  no  longer 
live"  (p.  340),  but  he  did  live  many  years  after  the 
rejection  for  disobedience  about  Amalek.  It  shows 
the  importance  of  adherence  to  historic  truth.  While 
a  writer  gives  his  own  coloring  to  a  narrative,  that 
narrative  should  seek  to  harmonize  the  several  charac- 
ters which  it  j)ortrays.      Thus  the  ruling  ideas  of  that 


1C6  ERA   OF  DAVID. 

age  correspond  with  tlie  description  of  the  writer  re- 
specting the  downfall  of  Sauh  There  is  no  contradic- 
tion between  the  account  and  the  times  depicted.  The 
king  is  represented  as  a  strong,  rough  man,  cruel,  yet 
of  generous  impulses  ;  at  times  as  mean-acting  as  any 
king  need  be  :  brave,  too,  patriotic,  and  passionately 
desirous  that  Jonathan  shall  succeed  him  ;  religious 
withal,  he  died  nobly  on  the  field  of  battle,  and  his  son 
with  him.  Xever  was  tenderer  elegy  penned  than 
David  composed  upon  Saul  and  Jonathan  in  the  elev- 
enth century  b.c.  It  amply  refutes  the  charge  of  il- 
literacy. In  one  day  fell  the  pride  of  Benjamin  and 
the  first  regal  dynasty  of  Israel.  We  never  tire  of 
reading  2  Sam.  1  :  17-27,  a  passage  which  Renan  care- 
fully conceals  in  the  background  of  his  story  ;  rather  a 
novel  way  of   writing  about  heroes. 

Though  priest  and  judge,  Eli  permitted  his  sons  in  a 
course  of  corrupt  practices  and  of  imposition  equal  to 
anything  in  the  priests  of  Egypt  and  India,  which 
caused  the  ruin  of  his  house  (1  Sam.  2  :  12-17  ; 
4  :  3-21).  The  Philistines  became  the  avengers  of 
Heaven  ;  they  seized  the  Ark  of  God,  which  had  been 
profanely  carried  from  the  tent  at  Shiloh  into  battle  ; 
but  they  became  terrified  at  the  mischief  it  wrought 
when  placed  in  Dagon's  temple,  and  after  seven 
months'  captivity  they  sent  it  back  to  Israel.  Cared 
for  by  Abinadab  it  blessed  his  house  for  many  years. 
This  was  at  Kirjath-jearim.  Shilolrs  annual  festivals 
ceased,  and  Israel  lamented  for  Jehovah's  worship.  It 
w^as  during  this  time  of  spiritual  widowhood  that  Sam- 
uel commenced  his  work  of  reformation.  He  assem- 
bled the  people  at  Mizpeh,  the  place  of  his  famous 


JACOB'S  niPyLE  THEN.  167 

victory  over  the  Philistines,  at  old  Bethel,  and  at  Gil- 
gal,  urging  them  to  loyal  service  of  the  God  of  their 
fathers,  to  put  away  the  Baalim  from  among  them,  and 
to  renew  the  covenant  with  Jehovah,  allowing  no  com- 
promises with  the  false  religion  about  them.  Like  a 
true  prophet-priest  lie  offered  a  burnt-offering  to  the 
Lord,  who  lieard  him,  and  accepted  the  renewed  ser- 
vice. The  men  of  Israel  fought  the  l^hilistines  with 
fresh  cournge,  and  routed  them  as  fugitives  flying  be- 
fore them.  This  victory  they  commemorated  by 
Samuel  setting  up  a  stone  near  Mizpeli,  which  he 
called  Eben-ezer,  the  Stone  of  Help,  where  Jehovah 
then  helped  His  people  (1  Sam.  7).  The  place  was 
in  the  canton  Benjamin,  some  four  thousand  feet 
above  the  sea,  and  became  a  rendezvous  for  the  tribal 
meetings  for  some  years.  The  hill  of  Zion  is  said  to 
have  been  visible  from  the  heights  of  Mizpeli  ;  but 
no  American  would  call  it  "  the  Washington"  of  the 
tribes  ;  rather  it  was  their  Philadelphia,  lasting  only 
for  a  time.  Of  special  importance  under  the  last 
judge  of  Israel,  it  was  the  local  witness  of  the  devel- 
oped idea  of  tribal  federation,  and  where  the  diet  as- 
sembled which  chose  Saul  to  be  their  king  (1  Sam. 
10  :  lY-25).  The  strong  character  which  Samuel  ex- 
hibited as  Reformer  and  Judge,  Prophet  and  Priest 
must  have  suggested  the  advantages  of  national  unity 
under  a  true  leader,  whom  all  would  recognize  and 
follow.  His  many  virtues  pointed  to  tribal  federation 
under  a  national  chief.  The  people  thus  paid  a  high 
compliment  to  the  num  who,  most  of  all  then  living, 
had  nourished,  if  not  indeed  evoked,  the  feeling  wliich 
was  expressed   by  asking  him  to  aj)j)oint  a  king  over 


168  ERA   OF  DAVID. 

them.  True,  Jehovah  was  supremely  their  King,  hut 
they  wanted  a  snb-king,  a  Ra-Sekenen  or  !Narani-Sin, 
wlio  visibly  should  lead  their  armies  and  manage  all 
federal  and  extra-tribal  affairs.  Only  Gideon  since 
Joshua  had  approached  to  such  an  ideal,  and  he  had 
erred  in  following  after  Baalim.  Now,  a  school  of 
prophets  had  arisen  which  could  conserve  religious 
purity,  while  a  recognized  sovereign  would  conserve 
political  interests.  Moreover,  SamuePs  annual  circuits 
to  Bethel,  Gilgal,  Mizpeh,  and  his  abode  at  Ramah, 
where  was  his  house,  a  sort  of  court,  and  where  he 
built  an  altar  unto  the  Lord,  all  illustrated,  perhaps 
unconsciously  to  the  prophet,  those  centralizing  ideas 
then  maturing  in  the  public  mind.  Scarcely  more 
than  EH's  were  Samuel's  sons  fitted  to  succeed  him, 
whose  personal  and  official  success  emphasized  the  re- 
vived longing  for  a  national  chief.  It  was  part  of  his 
life's  work  to  render  the  people  more  religious  and 
more  observant  of  those  rites  which  all  acknowledged, 
though  all  did  not  practice,  each  man  having  learned 
to  do  what  was  right  in  his  own  eyes  (Judges  21  :  25). 
The  reh'gion  of  Israel,  after  two  centuries  of  corrupt- 
ing influences  from  their  neighbors,  was  revived  and 
enthused  with  a  new  sjiirit  by  Samuel.  Clearly  there 
was  no  evolution  of  a  new  theology,  but  a  restoration 
to  a  new  life  of  the  old  covenant  religion,  and  a  wider, 
perhaps,  deeper  appreciation  that  Jehovah  was  its 
Head.  Yery  similar  was  it  with  our  colonies  after 
their  independence.  Religion  had  declined  among 
them.  Some  shejDherds  had  left  their  flocks  to  the 
wolves,  while  they  went  with  the  army  ;  others  had 
returned    to   their  native  land.     Schools  had  become 


JACOB'S  BIBLE  THEN.  ICO 

neglected,  literature  did  not  flourish,  the  art  of  writing 
languished.  Israel's  hostile  neighbors,  like  Philistines 
and  Zidonians,  were  poor  teachers  of  letters  ;  rather 
they  kept  them  as  ignorant  and  untaught  as  possible. 
The  power  which  could  prevent  the  forging  of  an  agri- 
cultural implement  would  not  favor  the  cultivation  of 
the  liberal  arts.  Not  even  a  smith  to  forge  a  spear,  a 
sword,  an  axe,  a  coulter,  or  a  mattock,  was  allowed  in 
Israel  while  dominated  by  the  Philistines  (1  Sam. 
13  :  19-22).  It  was  a  heavier  oppression  than  that  of 
hostile  Indians  and  French  Canadians  upon  our  colo- 
nies. East  of  the  Jordan,  Ammon  and  Moab  kept 
them  subject  ;  in  the  south,  Edom,  Midianites,  and 
Amalekites.  The  record  narrates  the  religious  and 
military  disorganization,  and  the  new-born  hope  under 
Samuel  ;  what  he  did  to  consolidate  the  tribes  and  to 
restore  the  powerful  influence  of  religion.  Jehovah 
was  their  King  ;  judges,  prophets,  even  anointed 
sovereigns  were  only  His  vicegerents,  administering, 
teaching,  judging  for  Him.  This  was  true  in  theory 
at  Mizpeh  and  Jerusalem  ;  Tirzah  and  Samaria  became 
apostate.  It  bears  repeating,  that  the  distinct! v^e  mis- 
sion of  Samuel  was  Reformer  and  Organizer  of  the 
Israelites  into  religious  and  political  unity.  He  sought 
to  restore  the  old  ways,  to  exscind  the  ])oly theism 
copied  from  Canaanites,  and  to  make  Israel  strong 
against  all  who  were  enemies  of  Jehovah.  It  was 
disintegration  which  had  invited  domination  by  neigh- 
boring cantons  west  and  south  of  the  chosen  people. 
From  Joshua  to  Samuel  there  had  been  no  national 
chief  over  Israel.  The  leaders  who  had  risen  were  but 
local  captains  of  l)ordering  tribes,  who  often  disputed 
8 


170  ERA   OF  DA  VTD. 

for  snpreinacy.  Shiloli,  indeed,  liad  been  a  religious 
centre  rather  than  a  national  capital  of  political  unity. 
Its  two  centuries  of  attraction  ceased  after  Ichabod 
was  named  upon  a  grandson  of  Eli  (1  Sam.  4  :  21). 
^National  enthusiasm  did  not  radiate  from  it.  Even 
the  joung  priest  Ahiah,  who  survived  the  fall  of  his 
family,  was  but  a  weakling  at  the  behest  of  Saul 
(14  :  18,  19),  who  would  bring  again  the  Ark  of  God 
to  battle  !  But  the  prophet  revived  patriotism  and  a 
common  interest  and  purpose  in  the  tribes.  He  would 
have  them  Jehovists  b}^  walking  righteously  before 
Him,  as  well  as  by  sacramental  seal  of  His  covenant. 
Such  revival  was  the  outconie  of  the  prophet's  work, 
and  in  furtherance  of  his  nation's  needs.  It  set  an 
example  to  Elijah  and  Micaiah,  to  Elisha  and  Jonah. 

]^or  does  it  minimize  the  importance  of  his  grand 
mission  to  add  that  Samuel  was  a  defender,  if  not  the 
founder,  of  clericalism  in  Israel  ;  for  then  the  cler- 
ical party  was  the  Lord's  party,  who  were  profoundly 
concerned,  jointly  with  the  prophets,  to  elevate  the 
people  in  the  religious  life  as  well  as  in  civil  privileges 
and  aspirations.  Saul  had  slain  the  priests  of  Nob, 
who  were  only  just  recovering  the  loss  of  Shiloh,  and 
however  much  he  might  need  their  aid,  he  was  too 
reckless  to  regard  their  lives.  Ilenan  says  they  were 
*'  too  powerful  to  be  dominated  by  the  king,"  yet  he 
slew  them  at  their  innocent  offending  !  In  David 
they  found  a  more  congenial  chieftain,  which,  with  the 
mandate  of  Jahveh,  effected  a  change  in  the  dynasty- 
even  before  the  death  of  Saul.  Jonathan  had  the 
good  sense  to  recognize  and  yield  to  the  Divine  choice. 
It  discloses  the   deep   and    far-reaching  inHuence  of 


JACOB'S  BIBLE  THEN.  171 

wliat  is  called  proplietlsm  in  the  era  of  Samuel.  Be- 
fore liis  death  his  teaching  had  penetrated  the  minds 
and  hearts  of  high  and  low  in  Israel,  so  that  it  dom- 
inated the  governmentj  changed  a  regal  dynasty,  won 
over  the  priests,  and  set  an  example  of  State  control 
wliich  Elijah  could  follow  but  in  part  ;  for  while  he 
could  change  Ahal)  for  Jehu,  who  avenged  the  wicked- 
ness of  Jezebel,  he  failed  in  winning  over  the  priests 
of  Samaria  to  his  side.  But  the  pro[)hets  of  Ramali 
and  the  priests  of  Jehovah  were  united  in  efforts  for 
the  national  and  Divine  honor,  and  they  were  quite  as 
successful  as  the  prophet  of  fire  and  the  guild  of  Elisha. 
They  also  had  the  courage  of  their  convictions  and 
of  their  order  ;  they  as  publicly  proclaimed  the  son  of 
Jesse  as  their  successors  proclaimed  the  son  of  Nimshi. 
But  they  patiently  waited  for  the  chances  of  war  to 
remove  Saul,  and  to  put  David,  the  chosen  one,  in  his 
stead.  In  this  also  Elijah  followed  that  first  example. 
Jehovah  is  not  precipitate  in  His  dealings  with  man- 
kind (1  Sam.  15  ;  16  ;  19  :  18-22  ;  1  Kings  19  ;  15- 
21  ;  2  Kings  8  :  7-15  ;  9  :  1-37  ;  Eenan,  vol.  i.,  pp. 
325-35). 

Saul's  great  offence  was  disobedience  to  the  Word 
of  God,  which  established  a  very  bad  precedent.  If 
prophets  could  be  disregarded  and  priests  slain  at  will, 
what  would  become  of  religion  in  Israel  ?  How  could 
preparation  be  made  for  the  Advent  of  the  Bedeemer  ? 
At  the  root  lay  the  danger.  The  redemption  of  man 
was  jeoparded  in  the  disobedience  of  Saul  and  rejection 
of  the  Divine  voice.  Here  Ja[>heth  had  an  interest  in 
Israel's  loyalty  to  the  God  of  Jacob.  Ko  altar  erected 
by  an   erring  king  would   compensate  for  the  moral 


172  Ell  A   OF  DAVID, 

terpitiidc  and  after  consequences  of  his  sin.  It  was 
inexpiable.  Very  characteristic  is  Renan's  remark, 
that  ^'  man  is  thus  shown  to  be  punished  for  the  good 
he  does,  and  to  be  compensated  for  the  evil.  History 
is  quite  the  contrary  of  virtue  rewarded  "  (^5.,  p. 
331).  It  is,  however,  apparent  by  the  facts  that  Saul 
was  personally  a  no  better  man  than  David,  who  was 
often  obliged  to  fly  from  his  deadly  weapon  while  at 
dinner,  though  as  often  as  SauTs  life  was  in  David^s 
hand,  he  scorned  to  take  it,  choosing  rather  to  seek  a 
home  among  Philistines,  or  in  the  cave  of  Adullam, 
or  among  the  wild  slopes  of  Carmel.  It  is  pitiful 
criticism  to  ridicule  the  "  pretty  story  of  David  in  a 
cave  ;  taking  the  lance  and  pitcher  of  water  from 
Saul,  while  improving  the  opportunity  of  a  good  laugh 
at  the  sleepy  Abner,"  who  should  have  guarded  his 
king.  (Renan,  vol.  i.,  pp.  341-46).  It  certainly  speaks 
well  for  the  son  of  Jesse,  and  suggests  that  his  con- 
duct had  nothing  of  the  ''  brigand  "  in  it.  Com- 
pare his  character  as  portrayed  in  1  Sam.  24  to  29  ; 
cutting  off  the  border  of  Saul's  robe  at  Engedi  ;  tak- 
ing his  spear  and  cruse  of  water  in  the  wilderness  of 
Ziph  ;  restraining  his  anger  against  churlish  Nabal  ; 
seeking  refuge  with  Achish  at  Gath  and  at  Ziklag, 
then  marching  after  invading  Amalekites  rather  than 
lift  his  hand  against  his  king.  What  gentleness  and 
justice,  what  patriotism  and  faith  are  there  illustrated  ! 
Not  doubting  its  historical  correctness,  we  must  accept 
the  whole  account.  Even  if  legendary,  we  have  no 
right  to  pick  and  choose  this  or  that  item  or  incident 
which  may  best  support  our  theo7'y  about  a  famous 
king  of  Israel.     Salient  facts  in  the  life  of  David  are 


JACOB'S  BIBLE  THEN.  173 

correct!}^  narrated  in  Samuel  ;  tliere  is  no  extenuation 
or  condonenient  for  wron<j^  doinii^,  nor  anglit  recorded 
of  malicious  purpose.  The  choice  of  the  Lord's 
prophet  has  his  human  weakness  and  sins,  which  are 
frankly  told,  as  well  as  his  valor  and  nobility  of  char- 
acter, his  gentleness  and  devotion,  his  strategy  and 
successes.  lie  captures  old  Jebus  and  makes  it  a  city 
of  the  great  King,  but  sins  upon  the  housetop  and  in 
ordering  a  census  of  Israel.  Then  David  the  Jehovist 
became  David  the  penitent,  and  prepared  to  erect  a 
magnificent  temple  to  his  God.  Thus  the  founder  of 
Jerusalem  as  the  capital  of  Israel  became  the  founder 
of  a  perpetual  habitation  for  the  mighty  One  of  Jacob, 
of  which  glorious  things  are  spoken.  "  The  outlaw  of 
Adullam,  the  fugitive  of  Engedi,  became  the  author 
of  Psalms,  and  an  ancestor  of  the  Redeemer  of  the 
world.  Jesus  as  incarnated  was  a  lineal  descendant 
of  David  and  of  Euth  the  Moabitess  ;  one  the  slayer, 
the  other  the  Saviour  of  men."  "A  bandit  has  sup- 
plied the  finest  books  in  the  ancient  liturgy.  A  Roman 
convict  has  redeemed  mankind."  Be  it  so.  We  ac- 
cept those  Psalms  as  the  precious  outpourings  of  pious 
souls  ;  we  accept  that  salvation  as  the  one  way  where- 
by man  is  restored  to  the  Divine  favor,  and  made  the 
child  of  God  by  purchase  as  well  as  by  creation.  We 
also  accept  the  theology  of  the  time  of  Solomon's 
temple  as  the  authorized  expression  of  Jehovah's  char- 
acter as  then  understood  by  Hebrews. 

That  grand  consecration  service  demonstrates  a  fact 
which  cannot  be  eliminated  from  history,  nor  omitted 
by  redactors  of  the  narrative,  nor  pulverized  by  criti- 
cal chemists.     The  worship  of  Jehovah  at  that  time  in 


174  ERA    OF  DAVID. 

that  temple  is  evidence  of  the  character  of  God  as  un- 
derstood by  His  worshippers  then.  It  was  Jeliovali, 
as  the  God  of  Abraham  and  Jacob,  who  was  thus  wor- 
shipped. The  account  of  it  given  in  1  Kings  8  cruslies 
by  the  weighty  facts  recorded  all  the  iine-spun  theories 
of  '^  fifth-century"  rhapsodists.  There  was  no  recent 
development  in  the  ideas  of  Jacob  touching  the  being 
and  attributes  of  Jahveh-Elohim.  As  understood  in 
the  twentieth  century  by  Abraham,  so  it  was  expressed 
in  the  eleventh  century  by  Solomon.  On  the  rock  of 
Moriah,  with  all  the  art  and  mechanism  of  that  age,  a 
sanctuary  was  erected,  a  fitting  symbol  of  the  national 
God  of  Israel  and  Lord  of  the  world.  Therein  tlie 
ancient  Ark  of  the  Covenant  was  placed,  not  again  to 
be  disturbed  or  carried  about  till  the  fiames  of  Nebu- 
chadnezzar's avenging  soldiers  changed  it  into  a  burnt- 
sacrifice.  Solomon  had  assembled  all  the  tribes  to 
witness  the  ceremonies,  doubtless  with  special  services 
for  the  occasion  ;  and  he  may  have  trespassed  on  the 
priest's  oftice  in  parts  of  the  consecration.  He,  indeed, 
offered  one  of  the  most  memorable  prayers  ever  ad- 
dressed to  the  throne  of  Heaven.  Dr.  Crosby  sug- 
gests the  prayer  was  prepared  for  the  king  by  the  High 
Priest.  It  should  cause  critics  to  think  twice  before 
saying  that  then  ''  Jahvism  was  established  as  the  re- 
ligion of  a  local  God. "  The  record  shows  that  He  was 
invoked  for  every  emergency,  whether  in  Israel  or  in 
captivity,  in  peace  and  in  war,  in  famine  and  in  plenty. 
Moreover,  ih^i  stranger  who  had  come,  or  should  come, 
from  a  far  country,  was  prayed  for,  and  that  Jehovah 
would  hear  him  from  His  dwelHng-place,  and  do  ac- 
cording to  all  that  the  stranger  prayed  for  ;  that  all 


JACOB'S  BIBLE  THEN.  175 

the  earth  might  know  His  name  and  fear  Him,  even 
as  did  His  people  Israel  (verses  41-43).  It  is  surely 
difficult  to  restrict  the  favor  of  such  a  God  to  any  lo- 
cality. His  purview  took  in  the  world  of  mankind. 
So,  two  centuries  later,  He  promised  to  pour  out  His 
spirit  upon  all  flesh  (Joel  2  :  28). 

Pardon  of  all  sin  was  there  to  be  sought  and  found  ; 
the  covenant  was  to  be  pleaded  and  remembered  by 
Jehovah  ;  blessings  were  to  be  implored  and  obtained. 
The  God  of  Moses  would  not  forget  to  maintain  the 
cause  of  His  worshippers,  as  the  matter  should  require, 
with  the  refrain  that  all  the  earth  may  know  that  Je- 
hovah is  God  (1  Kings  8  :  44-60  ;  2  Chron.  6). 
Forgery  of  such  records  would  be  as  easy  as  to  create 
a  Palestinian  sun.  They  prove  how  Jacob  worshipped 
the  Lord  of  the  world. 

And  it  was  by  a  liturgy,  which  was  a  growth  in 
Israel.  It  hardly  began  before  the  service  at  Sinai. 
It  was  enriched  for  use  in  the  tabernacle  andatShiloh, 
and  again  augmented  for  the  service  of  the  Temple. 
No  scholar  regards  it  as  the  same  alike  under  Moses 
and  Solomon.  Nor  have  we  evidence  that  Samuel  in- 
troduced any  great  change  in  the  worship  and  theology 
of  his  country.  Two  ideas  seem  to  occupy  his  mind  : 
to  bring  back,  or  to  bring  up,  the  people  to  loyalty  to 
their  Covenant-religion,  and  to  unify  them  as  a  nation 
for  God.  He  found  an  established  ritual  little  ob- 
served, perhaps,  during  the  sojourn  of  the  Ark  at 
Kirjath-jearim,  partly  revived  under  Saul  and  his  priest 
Ahiah,  and  fully  restored  under  David  when  the  Ark 
was  placed  in  the  tabernacle  at  Jerusalem  ;  1  Samuel 
14  :  18,  19  suggest  far  more  than  express  how  it  was 


170  ERA   OF  DAVID. 

under  Saul,  while  2  Samuel  6  and  7  recount  the  restora- 
tion under  David.  That,  together  with  his  prepara- 
tions for  building  a  splendid  temple,  which  was  erected 
by  his  son,  properly  designates  him  as  a  religious  man 
and  a  theocratic  prince.  Such  illustrations  of  piety 
would  have  secured  the  canonization  of  any  king  from 
Constantino  to  the  Tudors  of  England.  It  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  the  product  of  a  ^'  priestly  party" 
nor  of  "  prophetism,"  but  the  outcome  of  a  religious 
character  as  developed  by  the  legislation  and  appoint- 
ments of  Moses.  The  God  who  found  Jacob  at  Bethel 
spoke  to  Israel  through  Samuel  and  David  (Hosea 
12  :  4). 

This  era  also  further  proves  the  antiquity  of  the  laws 
of  the  Pentateuch.  Recall  what  has  been  said  in  this 
chapter  touching  oaths,  eating  flesh  with  the  blood, 
where  sacrifices  of  atonement  must  be  offered,  against 
witchcraft,  and  the  provision  for  a  developed  kingdom, 
with  the  restrictions  upon  royal  prerogative.  Consider 
also  Samuel's  hesitancy  to  anoint  a  king,  and  the  stub- 
born self-will  of  Saul ;  then  believe,  if  you  can,  that  such 
a  monarch  would  submit  to  the  restrictions  found  in 
Deuteronomy  17  :  14-20.  Clearly,  only  if  existing  at 
the  time  of  his  accession  to  the  throne  would  a  king  like 
Saul,  or  David,  or  Solomon  submit  to  such  limitations 
of  royal  prerogative.  They  were  provided  by  Moses, 
or  imposed  by  the  prophet,  after  a  night  of  prayer  to 
God.  Compare  1  Samuel  8  :  10-22  with  the  passage  in 
Deuteronomy  17.  If  possibly  some  later  editor  trans- 
ferred that  of  Samuel  to  the  Pentateuch,  as  some  hold, 
several  points  remain  to  be  accounted  for,  notably  the 
writing  out  a  copy  of  the  law  respecting  himself  by  the 


JACOB'S  BIBLE  THEN.  177 

king,  which  was  in  care  of  tlie  priests  (verse  18),  whicli 
he  was  to  read  daily,  that  he  niiglit  learn  the  fear  of 
Jehovah,  to  obey  liim  (Josh.  1  :  8).  It  could  have  lit- 
tle meaning  to  a  sub-king  like  those  after  the  exile. 
But  when  the  government  was  consolidated  under  Saul 
the  worship  of  Jehovah  and  sundry  detailed  laws  for 
prince  and  people  were  recognized  and  established — 
laws  ordained  of  old. 

During  the  previous  centuries  the  Church  had  wit- 
nessed to  the  truth,  and  was  the  keeper  of  it  as  deliv- 
ered to  her.  But  from  Moses  to  Samuel  the  sacred 
deposit  was  small.  It  then  received  a  larger  increase. 
Even  at  the  dedication  of  Solomon's  temple,  Jacob's 
Bible  comprised  the  Pentateuch,  which  was  then  com- 
pleted as  to  substance— the  Books  of  Joshua,  Judges, 
Ruth  ;  the  history,  in  probably  the  present  form,  of  1 
and  2  Samuel  ;  the  subject-matter  of  1  Chronicles  and 
the  first  seven  chapters  of  2  Chronicles  ;  1  Kings  1  to 
9  ;  Job  ;  probably  the  first  forty-one  Psalms  ;  also  65  to 
68,  72,  77,  78,  83,  89,  90,  96,  105  to  verse  15,  part 
of  106.  The  subject-matter  and  the  authority  of  St. 
Peter  in  Acts,  second  chapter,  prove  the  antiquity  of 
Psalm  16,  while  Exodus  15,  Numbers  10  :  35, 36,  Judges 
5,  2  Samuel  22,  2  Chronicles  16  :  8--36  prove  others  as 
early  existing  ;  but  the  question  is  too  large  and  im- 
portant for  treatment  here.  There  were  many  Psalms 
doubtless  arranged  for  public  use  under  David  and 
Solomon.  The  47th  and  48th  are  adapted  to  the  new 
temple.  But  only  half  the  Bible  was  then  writ- 
ten ;  many  Psalms  and  prophecies  were  yet  to  be  add- 
ed. This  illustrates  the  slow  growth  of  Hebrew  litera- 
ture before  David.  As  a  boy  he  had  heard  the  story 
8* 


178  ERA   OF  DA  VID. 

of  Ruth,  but  it  is  said  not  to  have  been  written  out 
before  his  coronation.  The  writing  prophets  of  the 
eighth  century  often  refer  to  the  Pentateuch,  and  im- 
ply a  knowledge  of  it  in  those  to  whom  they  wrote, 
otherwise  they  would  be  unintelligible.  Prophets,  in 
fact,  preserved  the  continuous  history  of  Israel  from 
the  Judges  to  the  Exile.  Jacob's  Bible  grew  up  with 
him.  Never  was  he  unable  to  write.  The  history  of 
Israel  was  not  a  work  of  art  by  Ezra,  but  a  record  of 
the  deeds  of  the  leaders  and  actors  in  that  history. 
So  also  its  laws  were  for  the  most  part  enactments  be- 
forehand for  the  prospective  needs  of  that  people. 
They  were  largely  anticipatory.  Thus  the  Nazarite 
vow  was  early  provided  for,  and  we  have  personal  il- 
lustrations of  it  in  Samson  and  in  Samuel,  who  from 
their  birth  were  dedicated  to  Jehovah  (Judges 
13  :  2-25  ;  1  Sam.  1  :  11-28  ;  IS^um.  6  :  1-21  ;  Lev. 
27  :  2).  The  removal  of  the  bodies  of  executed  per- 
sons was  practised  by  Joshua,  according  to  the  law  in 
Deuteronomy  21  :  22,  23  ;  Joshua  8  :  29  ;  10  :  26,  27. 
So  the  excuse  which  Saul  made  for  David's  absence 
from  table  on  the  feast  of  New  Moon  implies  the  then 
existence  of  the  laws  touching  personal  uncleanness  as 
well  as  feast-days  (1  Sam.  20  :  18-27  ;  Lev.  15  ;  Num. 
10  :  10  ;  19  :  11-22  ;  28  :  11).  In  all  such  cases  the 
ritual  prescribed  the  duty  of  the  priests  and  how  they 
should  perform  it.  Continuing  to  judge  Israel  till  the 
end  of  his  life,  Samuel  guarded  the  observances  of 
religion,  and  the  nation  lamented  his  death.  The  rele- 
gation of  civil  affairs  to  the  king  rendered  the  prophet's 
conduct  more  illustrious  before  the  people.  Schools 
of  "  Sons  of  the  Prophets"  lasted  with  some  changes 


JACOB'S  BIBLE  THEN.  179 

down  to  Jereiiiiali.  They  were  occupied  in  expound- 
ing and  copying  the  sacred  writings,  servants  at  once 
of  God  and  man  ;  inciting  to  patriotism,  inculcating 
and  ilhistrating  loyalty  and  devotion.  They  Messed 
Israel  for  Mve  hundred  years,  and  after  the  Exile  their 
local  work  was  carried  on  by  the  synagogues,  whose 
officers  provided  for  authorized  copies  of  the  Law,  the 
Prophets,  and  the  Psalms  for  reading  and  exposition. 
In  every  place  where  twelve  Jews  dwelt,  there  might 
a  synagogue  be  formed,  which  was  organized  in  al- 
most every  town  and  village  of  Palestine,  in  Alexan- 
dria, in  Greece,  and  in  Damascus.  Prophets  visited 
Syria  in  flight  from  Ahab,  or  in  the  discharge  of  spe- 
cial duty  (1  Kings  19  :  15  ;  2  Kings  8  :  ■7--15).  As 
Elijah  erred  in  thinking  that  he  onljMvas  left  a  servant 
of  Jehovah  in  Israel,  when  seven  thousand  other  He- 
brews were  faithful,  so  now  many  err  in  supposing  that 
only  one  copy  of  the  Law  of  God  existed  in  Judah 
under  the  reign  of  Josiah.  Men  of  Jerusalem  remem- 
bered and  quoted  the  prophecy  of  Micah  in  defence  of 
Jeremiah's  predicting  the  destruction  of  their  city  by 
Babylon.  Very  likely  they  could  repeat  other  early 
prophecies,  and  knew  the  law  of  the  Divine  covenant 
and  the  teaching  under  it.  The  revival  which  com- 
menced with  Samuel  continued  under  David,  and  new 
prophets  arose  who  kept  alive  the  religious  fervor, 
even  when  it  implied  separation  from  the  rulers. 
Modern  history  abounds  with  examples  of  the  court 
falling  below  the  moral  standard  of  the  people.  Wit- 
ness Charles  II.  and  Louis  XIV.  Even  our  Franklin 
fell  below  the  public  demands.  It  was  the  function  of 
the  prophets  to  elevate  the  practice  to  the  covenant 


180  ERA   OF  DA  VID. 

requirements.  King  Meslia  knew  of  Jehovah,  and 
sought  to  drag  captive  Hebrew  women  to  Molech's 
altar,  perhaps  to  offer  them  as  victims.  His  vindic- 
tive feeling  found  excuse  in  the  oppression  he  endured, 
and  in  the  law  (Dent.  23  :  3)  that  no  Aitimonite  or 
Moabite  should  enter  the  congregation  of  Jahveh  to 
the  tenth  generation.  Verse  7  forbade  an  Israelite  to 
abhor  an  Edomite,  for  they  were  brothers  ;  to  abhor 
an  Egyptian,  because  Jacob  had  been  a  stranger  in  his 
land.  It  is  legislation  which  no  late  writer  would  in- 
corporate into  a  recent  Deuteronomy.  He  would  re- 
member that  David  was  a  great-grandson  of  Moabitess 
Ruth,  and  that  her  adoption  of  the  Hebrew  religion 
did  not  eliminate  tbe  taint  of  corrupt  Moab.  Dr. 
Kalisch  says  the  author  of  the  Book  of  Euth  was  in 
favor  at  David's  court.  He  certainly  could  not  orig- 
inate the  prohibition  of  Deuteronomy,  nor  could  any 
later  writer.  Ezra  would  not  thus  have  dishonored  a 
theoci'atic  king.  In  his  resoluteness  for  marital  pu- 
rity, he  could  not  forget  the  sin  of  Lot,  neither  would 
he  forge  an  example  of  license.  The  passage  of  ten 
generations  exscinded  the  blot  in  the  royal  pedigree, 
but  proved  an  ancient  legislation,  and  the  anointing  oil 
of  Samuel  cured  all  defects  in  the  shepherd  king. 

Such  are  some  of  the  facts  in  the  era  of  Samuel 
wdiich  have  withstood  all  redactors  and  editors  of  the 
sacred  books  for  three  thousand  years.  They  leave  us 
in  possession  of  Jacob's  Bible,  his  law,  his  history,  his 
prophets,  and  his  prayeis.  They  are  laws,  predictioris, 
and  prayers  which  imply  Divine  Inspiiation.  None 
are  mere  copies  of  any  other  records,  nor  simply  bor- 
rowed from  other  nations.     Even   when   adapted  for 


JACOB'S  BIBLE  THEN.  181 

Hebrews  resident  in  Pjilestine,  tliey  illustrate  how  the 
world-enihracing-  love  of  Jehovah  provided  to  bless  and 
save  mankind.  The  Book  of  Kuth  evidences  the  ex- 
istence of  a  law  respecting  gleaners,  of  a  law  regulat- 
ing the  sale  and  redemption  of  real  estate,  of  the 
Levirate  law  and  duty  of  a  near  kinsman  ;  these  were 
operative  in  the  twelfth  century  B.C.  (chs.  2,  4  :  1-12). 
The  law  and  vow  of  the  Nazarite  were  yet  earlier 
(Judges  13)  ;  of  vows  in  general,  but  misunderstood 
by  Jephthah  (ch.  11)  ;  laws  against  idolatry  (8  :  2-1- 
35  ;  6  :  11-37)  ;  cities  of  refuge  recognized  by  Joshua 
(20  and  21)  ;  the  law  of  the  lot  (15-19)  ;  removal  of 
bodies  of  executed  persons  (10  :  15-27)  ;  about  sla- 
very (9  :  lG-27)  ;  of  circumcision  and  passover  (ch.  5)  ; 
the  priesthood  was  the  inheritance  of  Levi  (Josh.  18  : 
7).  A  word  of  history  is  worth  a  mountain  of  theory. 
It  is  a  perversion  of  truth  to  represent  that  the  Jewish 
religion  was  not  completed  till  150  b.c,  and  was  then 
an  abridgment  of  the  religions  of  the  world  !  Even  if 
this  were  true  of  Jeicism,  when  the  prophets  had  ceased 
in  Israel,  it  is  7}ot  true  when  said  of  the  Hebrew  relig- 
ion lefore  the  Exile.  My  argument  is  not  with  mere 
Jewisjn  after  Inspiration  became  silent.  It  is  con- 
cerned with  the  religion  of  Abraham,  the  legislation  of 
Moses,  and  the  voices  of  the  prophets  expounding  the 
religion  of  the  Hebrews. 

Moreover,  important  facts  of  that  history,  of  law, 
covenant,  even  recorded  judgments,  as  witness  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah,  Egy])t  and  Nineveh,  Midianites  at 
Oreb  and  Zeeb,  are  explicitly  mentioned  by  prophets 
of  the  eighth  and  the  ninth  century  b.c,  as  being 
well  known  among  the  people  to  whom  they  spoke  ; 


182  ERA   OF  DAVID. 

also  how  the  lintel  of  the  door  was  anointed  with  oil  ; 
how  the  trumpet  told  of  New  Moon  and  Jubilee  ;  how 
Dan  was  reproved  for  departing  from  the  Covenant 
and  ritual  of  Israel,  and  how  Ephraim  was  entreated 
to  forsake  the  sin  of  Samaria.  (Cf.  Amos  4  :  11  ; 
8  :  Itt  ;  9:1;  Joel  ;  Nahum  ;  Micah  ;  Hosea,  11th 
and  12th  chapters  ;  Judges  7  :  25  ;  Ps.  19  ;  68  ;  78  ; 
83  ;  89  ;  99  ;  105  ;  106.)  Many  of  these  writers 
lived  a  thousand  years  after  Abraham  and  Jacob,  yet 
they  give  such  details  as  show  that  the  facts  were  gen- 
erally knoU^n,  forming  a  part  of  the  national  history 
which  was  then  written.  Hosea  and  Amos  certify  to 
the  truth  of  Jacob  in  Genesis  and  in  Egyiit,  and  to  de- 
liverance from  it. 


VIII. 

THE    PROPHETS     AND    TIIEIR    PREDIC- 
TIONS. 

EwALD  on  '^  Revelation"  says,  "God  speaks  by 
His  Word  and  by  His  Spirit.  The  Spirit  vivifies, 
energizes  ;  the  Word  decides  and  determines  ;  the 
Spirit  endows  to  right  action,  the  Word  directs  that 
action.  Original  Revelation  was  given  of  God  with 
the  human  spirit  in  creation.  It  is  not 'poetry^  nor 
consciences'^''  nor  the  product  of  thought,  but  the  in- 
spiration of  thought  in  man.  "  Human  speech,  with- 
out the  antithesis  of  God  and  man,  and  so  without  a 
word  for  God,  is  not  thinkable,  and  never  actually  ex- 
istent. The  Bible,  the  Yeda,  the  Avesta,  Egyptian 
memorials — all  have  a  God,  who  is  the  God  for  their 
people"  (pp.  2-17).  This  was  a  grand  fact  in  human 
life  and  thought.  The  records  of  primitiv^e  history  are 
charged  with  religion  and  God.  Under  various  names 
He  is  everywhere  represented  as  speaking  to  man. 
And  the  most  emphatic  and  most  valuable  of  that 
speaking  was  by  Hebrew  prophets — Abraham,  Jacob, 
Moses,  Samuel,  and  his  successors.  Even  Balaam 
claimed  to  voice  for  Balak  only  what  God  put  into 
his  mouth  (Num.  22  :  38). 

Dr.  M.  M.  Kalisch  says,  Balaam's  book  was  written 


184  TUE  PROPIIETS  AND 

in  the  latter  part  of  David's  reign,  about  1030  b.c. 
He  compares  it  with  the  Book  of  Ruth,  and  claims 
they  both  belong  to  the  same  period,  David  himself 
being  third  in  descent  from  Ruth.  Yet  he  calls  Num- 
bers, into  which  Balaam's  account  was  embodied,  a 
''  priestly  book."  The  narrative  teaches  that  the  God 
of  Balaam  is  undoubtedly  the  God  of  the  Hebrews  ; 
that  the  several  altars  had  a  symbolic  meaning,  refer- 
ring to  the  Ruler  of  nations  and  of  individuals,  includ- 
ing all  men.  Ruth,  the  Moabitess,  accepts  the  God 
of  Naomi  in  the  most  beautiful  and  touching  assev- 
eration ever  penned.  The  book  was  written  while 
David  yet  dwelt  at  Hebron.  Deuteronomy  was  the 
first  heavy  blow  dealt  at  the  work  of  the  prophets. 
(''Bible  Studies,"  pp.  11,  37,  60).  We  have  only 
his  guess  at  dates  and  origins,  because  long  after  the 
writing  of  Deuteronomy  the  prophets  were  a  vast 
force  in  Israel  ;  they  flourished  notwithstanding. 
Even  if  it  was  of  the  late  date  claimed  by  some,  the 
prophetic  work  had  been  done  ;  their  mission  was  ac- 
complished. Elijah  and  EHsha,  Jonah  and  Nahum, 
Micaiah  and  Micali,  Amos,  Hosea,  and  Isaiah,  had 
each  delivered  his  message,  now  to  the  King  of  Israel, 
of  Judah,  of  Nineveh,  and  now  calling  the  peoples  of 
those  lands  to  repentance  and  right  living.  It  was  be- 
fore the  Exile  and  before  restoration  to  Judah's  deso- 
lated lands  and  burnt  temple  that  the  prophetic  work 
was  performed.  From  the  time  of  Alexander  the 
Great,  the  prophets  had  no  njission.  The  political 
commotion  of  the  country  was  best  met  and  managed 
by  men  like  the  Maceabean  princes,  by  exhorters  in 
the  newly-risen  synagogues,  by  scribes  and  expounders 


THEIR  PREDICTIONS.  185 

of  tlie  law,  by  preiicliers  like  John  Puiptist.  I  marvel 
that  a  scholar  such  as  Ivalisch  did  not  see  this,  and 
correct  his  error.  AVhether  Deuteronomy  was  of  early 
or  late  origin,  it  dealt  no  heavy  blow  at  the  work  of 
the  prophets.  Their  era  is  fixed,  and  they  accom- 
plished their  w^ork. 

Wellhausen,  however,  errs  in  a  different  way  :  "  The 
prophets  had  long  been  preparing  for  the  overwhelm- 
ing catastrophe  which  burst  upon  the  house  of  Omri" 
(article  "  Israel,"  p.  407,  in  "  Encyclopaedia  Britan- 
nica").  "What  prophets  had  thus  been  preparing  for 
that  catastrophe  ?  Aliab  was  only  the  second  king  of 
the  house  of  Omri,  Omri  himself  being  the  Urst,  and 
also  an  usurper,  or,  as  some  would  say,  an  avenger  ! 
(See  the  account  in  1  Kings  16  :  8-28.)  Jehu,  the 
son  of  Ilanani,  Elijah,  Micaiah,  and  an  unnamed  son  of 
the  prophetic  guild  (1  Kings  20  :  35  ;  16  :  1  ; 
21  :  17-21:  ;  22  :  8-2S),  are  the  only  prophets  of  Israel 
who  are  reported  as  prophesying  against  that  reigning 
house  ;  Jehu,  in  fact,  uttered  his  word  against  Baasha. 
Evidence  is  wanting  of  any  combination  of  prophets 
against  Omri-Aliab  till  after  they  proved  themselves 
disloyal  to  the  worship  of  Jehovah.  It  is,  however, 
true  that,  from  the  days  of  Jeroboam,  who  made  Israel 
to  sin,  the  voices  of  the  prophets  were  often  raised  in 
remonstrance  against  the  royal,  even  priestly  and  pop- 
ular apostasy  of  Israel.  Samaria's  priests  were  man 
made,  most  of  them,  priests  and  prophets  of  Baal  and 
calf  shrines. 

The  chief  of  those  warning  prophets  was  Elijah  of 
Thisbe,  who  warned  Ahab  of  his  danger,  and  made 
him  tremble  on  his  throne,  for   the  iniquity  practised 


18G  THE  PROPHETS  AND 

by  himself  and  queen.  It  was  the  only  preparation 
for  the  catastrophe  wliich  burst  upon  liis  house. 
"'  The  prophets,"  says  Wellhausen,  "  first  made  their 
appearance  before  the  beginning  of  the  Philistine 
wars.  They  were  a  novel  phenomena  in  Israel,  lived 
in  societies,  wore  a  distinctive  dress,  and  had  a  recog- 
nized place  in  religion  ;"  so  they  could  not  be  very 
novel,  or  they  would  not  have  had  a  recognized  place 
in  the  popular  religion.  ^'  In  solitary  grandeur  Elijah 
towered  conspicuously  over  his  time.  Legend  has 
preserved  the  memory  of  his  figure.  To  him  it  was 
revealed  that  there  exists  over  all  one  holy  and  mighty 
God,  who  reveals  Himself  in  law  and  in  righteousness. 
Elijah  was  no  invented  figure  ;  he  was  a  prophecy  of 
the  future  rather  than  an  actual  agent  in  shaping  the 
present."  Yet  he  was  chief  in  preparing  for  the 
downfall  of  Ahab  !  ^'  The  prophets  had  foreseen  it, 
and  declared,  in  the  name  of  Israel's  God,  that  it  was 
inevitable"  ("  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,"  p.  412). 
The  cause  was  the  erection  of  a  richly-endowed  temple 
to  the  Syrian  Baal  for  Queen  Jezebel  ;  but  Ahab  ^'  had 
no  intention  of  renouncing  Jehovah,  who  still  contin- 
ued to  be  the  national  God,  after  whom  Ahab  named 
his  sons  Ahaziah  and  Jehoram.  The  destruction  of 
Jehovah's  altars  or  the  persecution  of  His  prophets 
w^as  not  [at  first]  proposed,  nor  the  introduction  of  a 
foreign  cultiis,  except  in  Samaria.  Solomon  had  done 
so  one  hundred  years  before.  Nor  were  the  people 
offended.  But  Elijah  strenuously  opposed.  To  him 
only,  not  to  the  nation,  did  it  seem  like  a  halting  be- 
tween two  opinions,  an  irreconcilable  inconsistency, 
that  Jehovah  should  be  worshipped  as  Israel's  God, 


THEIR  PREDICTIONS.  187 

and  a  cliapel  to  Baal  be  erected  at  the  same  time  in 
Israel.  Tie  thonglit  of  Jehovah  as  a  great  principle, 
which  cannot  co-exist  in  the  same  heart  with  Baal." 
Certainly  in  those  who  acknowledged  and  worshipped 
Jehovah  there  could  not  be  another  God,  Ilis  rival  ! 
A  Baalite  might  acknowledge  the  God  of  Israel,  not 
the  reverse,  for  Jahvism  was  exclusive  and  absolute, 
while  Baalism  was  only  local  and  changeable.  Hence 
there  must  be  a  thorongh  clearance  of  it  from  Samaria 
and  from  the  house  of  Ahab.  Hence  Jehu,  son  of 
Nimshi,  was  anointed  to  be  king,  and  the  avenger  of 
Elijah's  God  upon  Ahab's  house.  He  made  quick 
work  of  the  clearance  ;  not  one  survived  him.  He 
extirpated  Baal  and  his  worshippers  from  Samaria. 
The  king  was  shot  with  an  arrow  right  through  the 
heart ;  the  Queen-mother,  Jezebel,  w\as  tlu'own  out  of  a 
window  ;  and  Ahab's  seventy  sons  were  beheaded, 
their  heads  being  sent  to  Jehu.  He  left  none  remain- 
ing of  his  great  men,  his  kinsfolks,  and  his  priests  (2 
Kings  10  :  1-11,  18-28).  Nevertheless,  Jehu  con- 
tinued the  calf  worship  in  Bethel  and  in  Dan.  As 
Ahab  humbled  himself  before  Jehovah,  the  judgment 
was  inflicted  upon  his  sons,  w^liich  does  not  justify 
Kenan's  saying,  "  The  prophets  would  destroy,  if 
they  could  not  reform  the  world."  Before  the  Exile 
idolatry  existed  in  some  form  ;  images,  stones,  trees, 
groves  were  resorted  to  as  accessories  of  worship,  and 
witnessed  to  the  patience  of  the  Lord's  prophets. 
Mesha's  inscription  lends  confirmation  to  their  patient 
endurance.  1  Kings  1  :  1-16  ;  3  : 1-27  recount  crimes 
against  humanity  ajid  sin  against  God.  No  ;  the  ma- 
jority of  the  prophets  were  not  revolutionists — reform- 


188  THE  PROPHETS  AND 

ers  often — but  often  predicting  smooth  tilings  as  the 
only  means  of  obtaining  a  hearing.  They  had  no 
sanctuary  nor  confessional,  while  priests  of  Baal  were 
sure  of  attention  because  of  their  position.  At  this 
time  we  must  not  forget  that  Jehovah's  priests  exer- 
cised no  functions  in  the  nortliern  kingdom,  in  the 
chapels  of  Baal,  and  before  the  calf  shrines.  The  Ten 
Tribes  went  not  up  to  Jerusalem.  They  had  no  true 
priest  nor  true  sacrifice.  We  must  also  distinguish 
between  the  rebukes  of  priests  by  Jeremiah  and  Eze- 
kiel,  and  of  Elijah  and  Hosea  (Jer.  5  :  31  ;  14  :  14  ; 
Ezek.  13  ;  1  Kings  18  :  17-21  ;  Hosea  5  :  1,  2). 
From  Jeroboam  to  King  Hoshea  that  kingdom  w^as 
apostate  from  Jahveh  (2  Kings  17  :  5-16),  and  served 
Baal.  Wellhausen  ignores  the  account  in  1  Kings  18  ; 
how  the  minister  of  Ahab  protected  Jahveh's  prophets 
from  Jezebel's  wrath,  hiding  them  by  Hfty  in  a  cave  and 
feeding  them  on  famine  fare.  The  narrativ^e  indicates 
that  whatever  Ahab  might  have  been,  Jezebel  was 
hostile  to  Jahvehists,  and  bent  the  king  to  her  will. 

Because  the  Baal  prophets  were  only  augurs  and 
soothsayers,  following  the  popular  ways  for  gain,  *jt 
would  be  unjust  to  charge  the  prophets  of  Jahveh, 
as  a  class,  with  timidity,  self-seeking,  or  time-serving. 
They  did  not  attach  themselves  to  the  party  in  power 
for  gain  ;  not  Elijah  and  Elisha,  not  one  of  the  so- 
called  greater  prophets,  nor  any  of  the  twelve  which 
galaxy  around  them  in  our  Bible.  Simply  as  men 
they  honored  humanity  ;  as  prophets  they  honored  Je- 
hovah. Only  one  of  them  ever  shrank  from  promptly 
delivering  the  Divine  message,  and  he  was  moved  by 
his  patriotism  to  let  Nineveh  fall,  because  he  foresaw 


rilEIR  PREDICTIONS.  189 

what  tlint  peo])]e  would  do  to  liis  people  in  later  timea. 
Eiit  even  he  obeyed  tlie  second  voice  of  command. 
Eiijali  and  Jeremiah  might  have  fattened  and  feasted 
under  rojal  favor,  and  liavo  established  a  house  full 
of  the  ^ood  things  of  life,  if  thej  had  been  content  to 
follow  the  party  in  power  ;  but  instead  thej  preferred 
to  be  loyal  to  Jehovah,  thongh  they  seem  to  have 
snffered  the  loss  of  home,  of  wife  and  child,  which 
meant  very  much  more  in  those  days  than  in  ours,  in 
order  to  devote  themselves  to  their  mission.  It  is 
time  to  have  done  with  minimizing  the  early  prophets 
of  Israel  for  the  purjjose  of  minimizing  prophetic  In- 
spiration. 

While  some  of  the  judges  and  kings  illnstrnte  valor 
and  national  heroism,  patriotism  in  the  broad  sense, 
the  prophets  illustrate  moral  and  personal  heroism  of 
the  grandest  sort.  They  carried  their  lives  in  their 
hands,  rebuking  wicked  kings,  exhorting  a  passionate 
people  to  awake  from  self-indulgence,  and  to  practise 
the  virtues  of  godliness.  They  preached  the  duty  of 
righteousness,  heralded  the  advent  of  the  Messiah, 
and  sought  to  prepare  the  people  for  llim.  They 
were  reformers  of  the  ages  in  which  they  lived. 
They  warned,  rebuked,  threateiied,  or  tried  to  woo 
the  men  of  tlieir  day  to  be  men  of  God,  even  those  of 
neighboring  and  distant  nations — Ammon  and  Moab, 
Edom  and  Egypt,  Arabia  and  Assyria,  Babylon  and 
Tyre.  Joseph  in  Egypt  and  Daniel  on  the  Euphrates 
interpreted  dreams  sent  of  God  to  warn  the  rulers 
what  Heaven  was  al>out  to  do  as  affecting  their  wel- 
fare. Now  a  prophet  had  a  word  for  Judah,  now  for 
Zidon,  now  for  Samaria  and  Damascus  ;  now  ho  must 


190  rilE  PROPHETS  AND 

travel  to  a  distant  land  and  cry,  '*  Yet  forty  days,  and 
jNineveli  shall  be  overthrown  !"  and  then  write  ont, 
and  send  his  message  to  be  read  in  the  streets  of  Baby- 
lon, and.  afterward  sunk  into  the  great  river,  saying, 
''  Thus  shall  Babylon  sink,  and  shall  not  rise  from  the 
evil  brought  upon  her"  (Jer.  51  :  6-1).  No;  God's 
truth  was  never  barrelled  up  and  restricted  to  Israel 
alone.  The  hand  and  voice  that  provided  for  Jacob 
provided  also  for  Japheth.  The  God  of  Jeshuron 
w^as  not  a  local  deity,  but  the  God  of  mankind.  Where 
no  Aaronic  priest  ever  officiated,  there  prophetic 
voices  might  be  heard  from  the  coasts  of  Phoenicia  to 
the  regions  of  the  two  rivers  and  among  the  Egyptians. 
They  denounced  idolatry  and  polytheism,  sensuality 
and  all  unrighteousness  overreaching  between  man  and 
man,  and  impiety  toward  God.  They  declared  what 
would  come  to  pass  according  to  His  will,  and  how 
His  judgments  might  become  blessings.  They  also 
had  a  word  of  comfort  and  encouragement  for  some 
lone  widow,  some  fatherless  child,  some  oppressed 
laborer,  or  some  praying  believer  in  the  saving  grace 
of  Jahveh.  And  they  thundered  against  the  inconsis- 
tency of  being  among  the  covenanted  of  the  Lord, 
while  the  national  conduct  l)elied  its  profession.  Ever 
did  they  proclaim  that  conduct  proved  character  and 
was  the  index  of  it,  and  that  ]>unishment  would  follow 
transgression.  The  Judge  of  all  the  earth  held  a  just 
balance  ;  rectitude  and  righteousness  were  the  habita- 
tion of  His  throne  ;  adjustments  and  compensations 
were  administered  by  Him.  His  prophets  were  pa- 
triots and  seers,  reformers  and  conservators  of  the  old 
ways  and  truths  and  teachings  of  religion.      The  God 


THEIR  PEEDWTIONS.  191 

of  tlie  Law  and  the  Testimony  would  deliver  11  is  people 
froiu  all  oppressors  :  now  by  Deborah  and  IJarak  from 
Midianites  ;  now  by  Samson  and  Samuel  from  the 
Philistines  ;  now  by  His  angel  from  the  hosts  of  Sen- 
nacherib. Joel  would  free  them  from  PhoBnician  cor- 
ruption and  from  the  Northern  Army  ;  Ilosea,  Isaiah, 
and  Jeremiah  from  Assyrians,  Babylom'ans,  Chaldeans, 
and  Zechariah  from  foreign  captivity  to  a  restored 
city  and  temple  wherein  God  dwelt  as  their  everlast- 
ing Lord.  (Compare  Amos,  Micah,  Zechariah  8th  to 
14th,  Malachi  3d  and  4th.)  The  prophets  were  thus 
political  as  well  as  religious  reformers,  heralds  of  the 
Messiah  and  precursors  of  Him,  who  should  suddenly 
come  to  His  temj^le. 

If  there  were  indulgent  priests  like  Eli,  there  were 
also  austere  priests  like  Ezra,  who  extirpated  evils  at 
the  root  ;  a  scribe  of  the  law  who  enforced  its  f-aithful 
observance,  its  fasts  as  well  as  feasts,  its  marital  and 
Sabbatic  requirements.  From  Phinehas  to  Hilkiah 
and  Mattathias,  the  father  of  Maccaba3us,  there  were 
never  wahting  priests  and  prophets  who  w^ere  zealous, 
loyal,  and  ready  to  sacrifice  their  lives  in  defence  of 
the  law  of  their  fathers  and  the  worship  of  their  God. 
It  needed  not  a  forged  Book  of  Daniel  to  arouse  the 
patriotism  and  religious  enthusiasm  of  the  Jews  to  en- 
dure the  cruelties  of  Antiochus  EpijJianes,  and  to  be- 
lieve that  He  who  had  delivered  their  fathers  from 
Egypt  and  from  Captivity  would  also  deliver  them 
in  the  second  century  b.c.  from  a  monstrous  tyranny. 
Only  the  God  of  Daniel,  not  his  hook,  could  achieve 
their  civil  and  religious  emancipation.  The  personal 
agents  in  it  were  the  sons  of  Mattathias. 


192  THE  PROPUETS  AND 

The  sages  and  seers  of  Israel  ever  found  the  means 
of  having  their  deh'verances  reacli  those  for  whom  they 
were  uttered,  whether  in  Palestine  or  the  regions  be- 
yond. Already  we  have  seen  the  affinity  in  language 
among  the  Semitic  families,  especially  in  the  vicinit}^ 
of  Canaan.  As  late  as  Sennacherib  and  Hezekiah, 
Jerusaleinites  understood  the  Assyrian  dialect.  Trade 
and  commerce  made  those  people  acquainted  with 
each  other's  speech.  Letters  were  conveyed  to  and 
commercial  dealings  had  with  many  separated  centres 
of  civilization  long  before  the  establishment  of  the 
Persian  posts.  Nahum  tells  us  how  the  merchants  of 
Nineveh  were  multiplied  above  the  stars  of  heaven 
(3  :  16).  Ezekiel  makes  the  traffickers  a  great  multi- 
tude between  Tyre  and  Bashan,  Arvad,  Lud  and  Phut, 
Tarshish  and  Meshech,  Javan  and  Tubal,  Togarmah 
and  Dedan,  Syria  and  Judah,  Kedar  and  Arabia, 
Haran  and  Canneh,  Asshur  and  Chilraad.  They  com- 
prised every  class  of  artisans,  skilled  workers,  seamen 
and  merchants,  traders  in  precious  metals,  gems,  rich 
fabrics,  spices  and  gums  for  sacrifice  ;  far  excelling  in 
quality  and  variety  the  trade  of  our  American  colonies. 
Ezekiel's  twenty -seventh  chapter  contains  names  not 
written  in  our  modern  bills  of  laden.  Herodotus  tells 
of  the  traffic  in  "  Assyrian  wares,"  which  were  carried 
via  Phoenicia  and  sold  to  the  Greeks.  In  his  time 
trade  flourished  between  Armenia  and  Babylon  and 
Susiana,  up  and  down  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris. 
Diodorus  makes  the  cities  on  those  rivers  marts  of 
commerce  with  Assyria,  Media,  and  Para^tucene. 
Thapsacus  and  Opis,  Tadmor,  Tyre  and  Joppa  be- 
came centres  of   trade.     Solomon   built   Tadmor  as  a 


THEIR  PREDICTIONS.  193 

grand  depot  and  mart  for  traffic  in  gold,  tin,  ivory, 
lead,  precious  stones,  cedar- wood,  pearls,  and  en- 
graved seals,  for  export  and  for  tribute.  The  route 
from  Elatli  to  Jerusalem  was  via  Babylon  and  Thap- 
sacus.  The  treasures  of  Arabia  and  Africa,  Egypt 
and  India,  were  shipped  on  boats  and  on  camels  to 
Tadmor,  Damascus,  and  the  Holy  Land,  or  to  Tyre 
and  Zidon.  Tin  was  early  brought  from  Cornwall, 
Wales,  and  the  Scilly  Isles,  to  be  exchanged  for  the 
rich  fabrics  of  Babylonia,  and  the  tin  was  mixed  with 
native  copper  for  the  production  of  '^  Assyrian 
bronze."  So  during  the  entire  era  of  the  writing- 
prophets  ancient  carrier-merchants  could  promptly 
convey  any  prophecy  to  the  several  points  between  the 
most  Eastern  and  Western  civilization.  Wherever 
trade  went  the  customs-officer  followed,  and  prophetic 
voices  readily  penetrated.  From  Susa,  east  of  the 
Tigris,  to  Sardis  in  Western  Asia  Minor,  there  was  a 
good  military  and  commercial  road  which  occupied 
ninety  days  to  travel,  and  was  provided  with  stations 
some  fifteen  miles  apart  ;  and  public  hostelries  had 
been  established  along  it  before  Herodotus  wrote. 
They  are  described  as  like  the  caravanseries  of  modern 
Persia,  while  the  road  they  dotted  formed  the  high- 
way of  travel  for  post  and  potentate  between  the  Ind- 
ian Ocean  and  the  JSgean  Sea.  It  was  equally 
available  to  Phoenician  merchants  and  Hebrew  seers. 
(Layard's  "  Babylon  and  Nineveh,'^  p.  429  ;  Rawlin- 
son's  "  Ancient  Monarchy,"  vol.  ii.) 

Isaiah  could  transmit  his  messages  to  Babylon  and 
Egypt,  to  Dumah  and  Damascus  (chs.  17-21).     Be- 
tween Judea  and  Nineveh  the  route  was  better  known 
9 


194  THE  PHOPHETS  AND 

and  more  frequented  than  in  our  day,  so  that  it  was 
as  easy  for  Jonah  to  go  and  preach  in  the  capital  of 
Assyria  as  for  a  Bostonian  to  visit  the  capital  of  Texas 
in  1860.  The  servant  of  Jeremiah  could  as  readily 
read  what  Jahveh  had  spoken  concerning  Babylon  and 
its  pending  desolation  in  that  famous  city,  as  he  could 
throw  the  roll  on  which  it  was  written  into  the  midst 
of  Euphrates  (Jer.  51  :  60-64  ;  Ezek.  31  :  3-15). 
Early  prophets  of  themselves  could  not  foresee  how 
corrupt  and  debased  Assyrians  would  become.  They 
were  of  the  same  Semitic  family,  and  in  the  days  of 
Isaiah  were  in  the  acme  of  their  power  and  influence. 
He  could  not  tell,  except  by  revelation  from  God,  that 
the  Medes,  who  were  then  a  rising  nation,  would  over- 
turn the  dynasty  of  Sargon  and  Sennacherib  in  about 
a  century  after  their  invasion  of  Palestine.  ''  In  the 
argument  from  prophecy  we  have  to  do  with  a  forest, 
not  with  a  single  bough  or  a  basket  of  leaves  ;  with 
the  whole  trend  of  a  coast,  not  with  single  headlands 
or  inlets  of  the  sea  ;  with  a  zone  of  constellations,  not 
with  a  few  scattered  stars"  ('^  Old  Faiths  in  New 
Light,"  p.  248).  And  the  stars  of  our  prophetic  zone 
illumine  human  history  from  the  promise  of  Genesis 
to  its  j)erfect  fulfilment.  All  critics  admit  the  work 
of  prophets  from  Samuel  to  Ezra  ;  prophets  who 
wrote  and  who  did  not  write  their  predictions.  Eli- 
jah, with  his  one  known  letter  to  Jehoram,  and  Elisha 
of  many  messages  ;  Micaiah,  who  withstood  the  false 
prophets  of  Ahab  as  well  as  his  sentence  to  bread  of 
affliction  and  water  of  affliction,  and  whom  Mr.  H. 
Spencer  misrepresents  as  advising  that  Jezebel-ruled 
king  to  war  against  Syria,  when  his  advice  was  to  the 


THEIR  PREDICTIONS.  195 

contrary,  thus  :  ''I  saw  all  Isroel  scattered  upon  the 
mountains,  as  sheep  that  have  no  shepherd.  ...  If 
thou  return  at  all  in  peace,  the  Lord  hath  not  spoken 
by  me"  (1  Kings  22  :  17,  28).  The  whole  chapter  is 
a  refutation  of  Mr.  Spencer.  As  well  say  that  the 
prophetess  Huldah  predicted  the  continued  prosperity 
of  Jerusalem  and  its  king,  when  she  foretold  what 
would  befall  it  because  of  prevailing  wickedness  (2 
Kings  22  :  14  ;  2  Chron.  34  :  22-28).  We  count  the 
non-wTiting  prophets  as  about  twice  the  number  of 
those  who  recorded  their  deliverances.  Their  order 
expounded  special  revelations.  Israelites  w^ere  watch- 
ful of  new  members,  and  asked  with  seeming  surprise, 
Is  Saul  also  among  the  prophets  ?  Will  he  leave  his 
paternal  acres  and  the  vocation  of  his  fathers  ?  Will 
he  be  yeoman,  seer,  or  king  ?  (1  Sam.  10  :  1-27.)  Of 
the  predictions  from  Enoch  to  Anna  enough  remains 
for  our  instruction  ;  more  would  doubtless  have  been 
preserved  if  needed  for  our  edification  or  for  prepar- 
ing for  the  reign  of  the  Lord.  We  have  all  that  is 
necessary  to  occupy  our  minds  and  to  interest  our 
affections,  and  the  Bible  was  not  written  to  gratify  our 
curiosity.  We  need  not  lament  the  loss  of  historical 
books  which  prophets  incorporated  into  theirs. 

It  is  said  that  all  voicmgs  of  seers  ivere  not  the  re- 
vealing of  new  ideas  and  events.  Jacob,  when  pre- 
dicting the  future  prosperity  of  his  sons,  may  have 
spoken  from  what  he  knew  of  their  personal  charac- 
ter, as  well  as  by  the  insj^iring  Spirit  of  God.  Thus 
his  ^r<?dictions  were  also  6?6scriptions.  He  foresaw 
somewhat  of  the  future  by  his  knowledge  of  the  past. 
He  knew  who  were  stern  and  self-willed  among  his 


196  THE  PROPHETS  AND 

boys  ;  who  were  strong  for  labor  in  the  field,  and  who 
would  bend  under  the  burden  of  taxes  ;  who  was  of  a 
commercial  mind  and  required  a  harbor  on  the  sea  for 
his  ships  ;  who  would  become  a  valiant  warrior  and 
chief  in  Israel  ;  who  swift  of  foot,  fruitful  in  tillage, 
producing  royal  dainties,  even  those  of  distant  com- 
merce ;  who  would  speak  goodly  words  of  comfort  and 
instruction  ;  who  receive  the  ever-watchful  protection 
of  the  Almighty  Shepherd  of  J  acob.  He  foresaw  that 
his  beloved  Benjamin  would  raven  as  a  wolf,  devour- 
ing the  prey  and  dividing  the  spoil  ;  and  that  Judah 
would -sway  the  sceptre  in  Israel  and  give  a  Saviour 
to  the  world.  That  4:9tli  chapter  of  Genesis  is  mas- 
terful in  prophetic  discrimination,  in  parental  and 
national  ratiocination.  Jacob  was  no  dervish  in  dress 
or  speech,  but  a  true  shepherd  of  his  family,  his  final 
blessing  disclosing  the  digested  observations  and 
thought  of  a  father,  the  wisdom  of  a  sage,  and  the  il- 
lumination of  an  inspired  seer.  But  he  was  not  a 
legislator  like  Moses,  nor  a  preacher  of  a  new  relig- 
ion ;  rather  he  accepted  as  true  what  he  inherited,  and 
to  that  he  added  the  revelations  made  to  him  at 
Bethel,  at  Mahanaim,  at  Peniel.  And  when  he  stood 
before  Pharaoh,  in  his  one  hundred  and  thirtieth  year, 
blessing  him  in  the  name  of  the  God  of  his  fathers,  he 
evidently  made  a  deep  impression  on  that  monarch, 
who  commanded  Joseph  to  give  him  the  best  of  the 
lands  in  the  district  of  Rameses.  There  was  no  obse- 
quiousness in  his  manner,  for  he  w^as  sustained  by  Him 
who  had  sustained  his  fathers,  and  had  fed  him  to 
that  day  (Gen.  48  :  15  ;  47  :  11,  Revised  Version). 
We   can   only    note   the   repeated   mention  of  the 


THEIR  PREDICTIONS.  197 

'*  Lord  God  "  of  Abraham  by  Jacob  and  all  later  pa- 
triarchs to  JMoses  ;  yet  Wellliauseii  says  that  Amos  is 
the  first  writer  who  thus  iiamesllim(4  :  G-11  ;  6  :  8). 
In  Exodus  3  and  Genesis  15  the  twofold  name  is  also 
used,  Jehovah  God  ;  read  also  Ilosea  12  :  2-G,  show- 
ing that  the  expression  is  as  ancient  as  the  thought,  and 
the  thought  as  old  as  Abraham. 

The  prophets  have  been  happily  styled  ''  the  Swiss 
Guards  of  the  true  religion,"  who  stood  in  no  fear  of 
kings  or  of  people.  Witness  Samuel  reproving  Saul ; 
Nathan,  Gad,  and  Iddo  reproving  David  and  Solomon. 
Ahijali  was  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  the  Wise  King,  and 
Shemaiah  restrained  the  avenging  wrath  of  Rehoboam 
(1  Kings  11  :  29-40  ;  12  :  22-24).  A  man  of  God 
out  of  Judah  rebuked  Jeroboam  and  proclaimed  the 
destruction  of  his  false  altar.  The  rest  of  that  chap- 
ter treats  of  the  same  old  man  of  God,  who  was  in- 
duced to  turn  aside  from  his  duty,  and  for  his  dis- 
obedience was  slain  by  a  lion.  But  his  word  against 
the  altar  was  fulfilled.  The  king  presumed  to  make 
for  his  groves  and  asherahs  in  high  places  priests  who 
were  not  of  the  tribe  of  Levi,  thus  completing  the 
apostasy  of  his  reign  (1  Kings  13  :  1-34).  Jehu,  the 
son  of  Hanani,  reproved  King-  Baasha  for  walking  in 
the  ways  of  Jeroboam  (IG  :  2).  Again,  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  moved  Azariah,  the  son  of  Obed,  to  a  mem- 
orable interview  with  Asa  of  Judah  and  Benjamin,  be- 
cause they  had  long  neglected  the  worship  of  the  true 
God  ;  were  without  a  teaching  priest,  and  without  ob- 
served law.  When  the  king  heard  Obed,  the  prophet, 
he  put  away  the  abominations  copied  from  Ephraim, 
renewed  the  altar  of  the  Lord,  and  summoned  all  the 


198  THE  PROPHETS  AND 

people  to  Jerusalem  to  a  great  sacrifice  to  Jehovah  ; 
which  was  only  a  restoration  of  the  old  way  of  wor- 
ship (1  Kings  "15  :  11-15  ;  2  Chron.  15  :  1-16),  and 
clearly  indicated  that  the  prophets  did  not  yield  to  the 
ruling  party  when  in  error. 

The  non-writing  prophets  have  left  enough  recorded 
by  others  of  what  they  said  and  did  to  show  how  they 
met  the  needs  of  the  times  ;  how  their  admonitions 
and  remonstrances  were  suited  to  the  cases  before 
them,  the  presumption  of  Saul,  the  lust  of  David,  the 
heavy  hand  of  Solomon,  the  avenging  spirit  of  Keho- 
boam,  the  calf-worship  of  Jeroboam  and  Baasha,  the 
neglect  of  Asa,  and  the  persistent  Baalism  of  Ahab- 
Jezebel.  The  tragedy  at  Carmel  was  the  climax  of 
Elijah's  zeal  and  determination  to  destroy  idolatry. 
The  extirpation  of  it  was  by  a  baptism  of  blood  ;  it 
was  the  slaughter  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  of  Baal's 
prophets  and  of  Ahab's  seventy  sons.  The  apostasy 
called  for  just  such  a  character  as  the  Tishbite,  and 
just  such  an  avenger  as  Jehu.  Apostasy  from  Jahveh 
required  heroic  treatment  and  correction.  The  calves 
at  Dan  and  Bethel  did  not  exclude  the  worship  of  Jah- 
veh, but  the  new  Baahsm  of  Samaria  did,  and  hence 
the  onslaught  of  Elijah  was  quite  justified.  He  was 
prophet,  priest,  and  statesman  for  the  time  ;  was  com- 
missioned to  appoint  Hazael  king  over  Syria,  and 
Elisha  as  his  own  successor  ;  thus  blending  the  ordi- 
nary functions  of  his  prophetic  ofiice  with  priestly  and 
political  duty.  Thus  the  vast  importance  of  his  work 
made  his  memory  ever  dear  to  Israelites,  and  he  was 
thought  to  have  reappeared  in  John  Baptist. 

Why  Elijah  and  other  prophets  of  the  ninth  and 


THEIR  PREDICTIONS.  199 

tenth  century  b.c.  did  not  write  their  predictions, 
Wellhausen  explains  bj  saying,  ''  Tliey  were  not  lit- 
erary ;  that  a  large  part  of  Israel's  early  history  has 
been  preserved  to  us  in  the  Books  of  Judges,  Samuel, 
and  Kinss  :  in  collections  of  the  laws  and  decisions  of 
contemporary  priests,  as  Exodus  21,  22,  which  were 
committed  to  writing.  Somewhat  later,  perhaps,  the 
legends  of  the  patriarchs  and  primitive  times  ;  that 
between  the  early  prophets  and  Amos  a  non -literary 
developed  into  a  literary  age  !"  This  is  given  in  the 
''  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,"  and  reprinted  with  a 
''  Prolegomena"  several  times  its  length,  retailed  at 
four  dollars  a  copy  !  But  the  author  asks  the  reader  to 
compare  the  progress  made  by  Isaiah  in  chapters  15, 16, 
and  his  orations.  Doing  this  we  find  those  two  chap- 
ters contain  an  unvarnished  prophecy  against  Moab^ 
the  long-time  enemy  of  Isaiah's  country,  which  are  as 
explicit  as  language  could  make  them.  A  rhetorical 
setting  would  have  been  out  of  character,  whatev^er 
the  ability  of  the  prophet.  If  Jahveli  had  a  word 
against  Moab  by  a  Jew,  He  would  not  spoil  it  by  fine 
writing.  This  is  the  explanation  of  the  style  ?  That 
learned  men  put  forth  such  criticisms  is  a  marvel. 
Confessedly,  when  Samuel,  Nathan,  Micaiah,  orEHjah 
had  anything  to  say  to  the  kings  and  men  of  their  gen- 
eration they  said  it  in  clear,  terse,  and  forceful  lan- 
guage, and  so  suitable  as  not  to  be  improved.  Nor  is 
Elijah  wanting  in  rhetorical  power  and  literary  skill. 
As  reported  in  1  Kings  17,  18,  19,  Elijah  indeed  is 
unsurpassed  by  Amos.  The  reader  may  easily  com- 
pare the  two.  We  must  not  forget  that  the  earlier 
prophet  hved  near  the  age  of  Solomon,  when  litera- 


200  THE  PROPHETS  AND 

ture  did  flourish,  when  the  temple  ritual  was  largely 
enriched,  and  that  comparative  peace  favored  literary- 
art  ;  that  in  the  lirst  half  of  the  ninth  century  b.c. 
Jehu  revolutionized  the  government  and  Baalism  of 
Samaria  ;  that  the  armies  now  of  Syria  and  now  of 
Assyria  kept  the  country  in  commotion,  and  a  century 
later  Slialmaneser  and  Sargon  carried  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  Israelites  beyond  the  Euphrates.  So  the  era 
of  Amos  was  no  more  favorable  to  literary  growth 
than  that  of  Elijah.  Indeed,  less  so,  if  we  may  judge 
those  times  by  other  countries.  Ordinarily,  an  era  of 
revolutions  is  preceded  by  discussions,  as  in  the  Greece 
of  Demosthenes,  in  the  England  of  Cromwell,  in 
France  before  the  Revolution.  So  it  was  in  Israel. 
Jacob  was  warned,  exhorted,  threatened  ;  Elijah  and 
his  compeers  were  now  here,  now  there  with  their 
prophetic  thunders,  which  they  voiced  in  tones  of 
alarm,  accompanied  with  impressive  gestures.  One 
letter  was  written  to  the  King  of  Jerusalem,  but  the 
direct  mission  of  the  prophet  of  fire  was  with  Israel, 
and  his  message  oral  and  repeatedly  spoken,  not  writ- 
ten as  history,  but  spoken  to  those  whom  it  concerned. 
This  is  the  reason  why  those  prophets  did  not  write 
their  messages  :  they  were  for  the  men  of  their  day 
then  in  Israel,  not  for  posterity,  not  for  distant  nations, 
but  for  living  men  and  rulers  ;  thus  :  '^  Go,  show  thy- 
self unto  Ahab  ;"  and  '^  As  Jehovah  liveth,  before 
whom  I  stand,  I  will  surely  show  myself  unto  Ahab 
to-day  !"  It  is  masterful  in  its  setting,  this  eighteenth 
of  1  Kings,  and  strong  against  the  charge  of  a  new 
literary  age  as  against  a  new  evolution  of  the  Hebrew 
religion.      Jahveh's    apostates   must   renounce   their 


THEIR  PREDICTIONS.  201 

apostasy  and  return  to  Jaliveli  ;  His  altars  must  be  re- 
paired ;  His  worsliip  re  established  ;  His  enemies  be 
put  down  and  extirpated.  Jehu  of  Nimshi,  Hazael  of 
Syria,  Elisha,  son  of  Shaphat,  even  Mesha  of  Moab, 
and  Assyrian  kings,  are  agents  in  the  clearance.  Work 
of  that  sort  is  never  done  by  letter,  but  by  terrible 
words,  and  sword  in  hand.  Thus  Baalism  was  extir- 
pated from  Israel,  and  to  that  extent  the  reformation 
was  effectual  ;  but  for  "  state  reasons"  Jehu  failed  to 
abolish  the  calves  of  Dan  and  Bethel.  They  were  re- 
served for  the  Assyrians  to  carry  away.  (See  Chapter 
X.  of  this  work  for  other  corrections  of  critical  writers 
of  this  period.) 

Again,  Wellhausen  says,  ''  that  the  Torah  was  at 
first  small,  but  grew  by  additions,  counsels  of  priests, 
ethical  maxims,  etc.,  of  which  there  was  a  common 
stock — there  were  moral  intuitions  and  convictions" 
("  Encyclopaedia Britannica,"  Art.  "  Israel,"  p.  409 J). 
That  is,  in  Israel  there  existed  what  we  call  an  tin- 
written  law,  some  of  which  was  gradually  incorporated 
into  the  written  code.  Elijah  complained  that  he  was 
left  alone  of  Jehovah's  followers,  and  Jeremiah 
lamented  the  mourning  of  Zion,  because  none  came  to 
her  solemn  feasts  (Lam.  1  :  4).  Jehovah's  altars  were 
broken  down  and  His  written  Laws  despised. 

After  all  the  analysis  of  Kuenen,  the  history  of 
Eenan  and  of  Wellhansen,  I  can  see  no  sufficient  rea- 
son for  not  insisting  upon  a  well-known  code  of  law 
and  of  ritual  before  Elijah  the  prophet,  for  Israel  and 
for  Judah.  Moses  and  Samuel  were  legislators  and  or- 
ganizers, and  their  successors  in  the  tenth,  the  ninth, 
and  the  eighth  century  b.c.  ,  were  reformers  who  sought 
9* 


202  THE  PROPHETS  AND 

to  restore  tlie  old  ways  and  bring  their  people  back 
from  the  calf-worship  into  which  they  had  fallen  to 
the  worship  of  Jahveh.  Hosea  would  remove  even 
the  name  of  Baal,  the  moon-feasts  and  desecrated  Sab- 
baths from  Israel.  He  exhorts  to  return  unto  Jahveh 
and  Ilis  Law  ;  else  the  calf  of  Samaria  shall  be  broken 
in  pieces  ;  for  the  great  things  of  the  Law  had  been 
written  for  him.  Ten  thousand  precepts  were  counted 
a  strange  thing.  Only  in  the  Lord  was  there  help  for 
Jacob,  therefore  should  he  return  from  his  backslid- 
ings  to  the  covenant  which  he  had  transgressed  (Hosea 
2  -^  11,  17  ;  6  :  1,  7  ;  8  :  1,  6,  12,  14  ;  13:9;  14  : 1, 
4).  Isaiah  also  speaks  of  the  ways  and  paths  of  Zion, 
of  the  law  and  the  word  of  Jahveh,  to  which  the  peo- 
ple were  to  be  willing  and  obedient.  To  the  law  and 
to  the  testimony  they  were  to  appeal  for  judgment  of 
the  true  as  against  the  false  (1  :  2-19  ;  2  :  3  ;  6  :  9-11  ; 
8  :  20).  It  is  teaching  based  upon  previously  existing 
and  acknowledged  law,  and  otherwise  has  little  force 
or  meaning.  Obedience  to  a  standard  was  enjoined 
and  required  by  prophets  of  Israel  and  prophets  of 
Judah. 

A  prophet  is  authority  for  saying,  that  Jahveh  gave 
laws  which  were  not  the  best  possible  but  the  best 
practicable  at  the  time  (Ezek.  20  :  25).  Some  precepts 
of  life,  rules  of  procedure,  details  of  ritual  in  the  tem- 
ple worship,  and  maxims  of  conduct  between  the  na- 
tions are  of  later  date  than  the  legislation  of  Moses 
and  the  reorganization  under  Samuel  ;  and  are  adapted 
to  the  period  of  the  temple  and  the  disruption  of  the 
kingdoms.  But  it  is  impossible  that  a  prophet  like 
Samuel  for  Saul  and  Elijah  for  Ahab  could  have  done 


THEIR  PREDICTIONS.  203 

as  they  did  without  the  existence  of  a  recognized  law 
for  king  and  for  people.  A  standard  of  law  and  of 
duty  nnist  have  been  known  in  Israel  and  some  ritual 
for  worship,  or  they  could  not  have  been  expounded 
and  enforced.  Kings  are  not  wont  to  listen  to  a 
preacher  who  has  no  authority  to  preach,  and  no  text 
to  explain.  The  recognition  of  duty  to  God  or  man 
arose  from  some  existing  law  of  God  or  man.  This  is 
as  evident  in  the  utterances  of  the  earliest  prophets  as 
in  the  latest,  in  the  rebukes  of  Nathan  as  of  Elijah,  in 
Jehu  the  son  of  llanani  and  in  Huldali  the  prophetess. 
They  all  reproved  for  the  violation  of  some  known 
law,  or  enjoined  some  acknowledged  duty,  or  souglit 
to  reform  and  correct  abuses  which  had  grown  up  in 
Judal]  or  in  Ephraim. 

Moreover,  it  should  be  remembered  that  a  rule  of 
right  living  and  of  worship  was  recognized  in  Assyria 
and  Babylonia,  in  Egypt  and  Phoenicia,  in  Edom  and 
Moab.  They  were  not,  indeed,  expected  to  worship 
the  God  of  Israel,  but  to  worship  the  God  whom  they 
acknowledged  and  in  the  approved  forms.  This  is 
what  Jonah  and  Nahnm,  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah  taught. 
The  Gentiles  should  live  righteously  and  worship  in 
sincerity.  But  a  Hebrew  dare  not  bow  down  to  any 
other  than  Jahveh  God  of  Israel.  (Compare  Jonah, 
chs.  3,  4  ;  Nahum  1-3  ;  Isa.  12  to  23  ;  Jer.  47-52.) 
Jehovah  would  take  of  the  nations  priests  and  Levites 
to  minister  unto  Him  (Isa.  ^^  :  21),  and  all  flesh  shall 
worship  before  Him  (verse  23).  It  is  part  of  Isaiah's 
prophecies  which  Kuenen  claims  to  have  been  written 
before  500  b.c.  It  speaks  of  the  Jerusalem  temple  as 
burned  and  desolate,  but  whoso  restoration  should  be  a 


204  THE  PROPnETS  AND 

joy  and  a  rejoicing  ((15  :  19).  In  chapter  30  :  9,  10, 
tlie  prophet  rebukes  Jerusalem  for  her  rebellion  in  not 
hearing  the  law  or  teaching  of  Jehovah  ;  "  AVhich  say 
to  the  seers,  See  not  ;  and  to  the  prophets.  Prophesy 
not  unto  us  right  things,  speak  unto  us  smooth  things, 
prophesy  deceits."  It  is  very  evident  that  they  knew 
the  right  way  and  what  the  right  teaching  should  be. 
Amos  8  :  1,  2  is  quoted  as  showing  that  God  deliv- 
ered Israel  from  Egypt,  and  covenanted  with  him,  not 
because  he  was  better  than  others,  but  because  He 
loved  him  ;  therefore  should  Jacob  fear  Him  (6  :  2-8  ; 
1  :  3-15  ;  2  :  4-16  ;  9  :  7-15).  (Compare  Isaiah 
7  :  5.-17  ;  4  :  2-6.)  These  imply  a  laio  of  Jahveh  and 
loyalty  to  it  and  Him.  It  matters  little  how  that  law 
and  ritual  compared  with  the  liturgy  of  Egypt  and 
Babylon,  nor  even  how  much  of  them  was  copied  from 
others.  The  fact  of  supreme  importance  is  that  to 
Abraham  and  to  Moses  God  gave  a  law  of  life  and  a 
law  of  worship — i.e.,  a  theology  and  a  liturgy,  brief 
and  explicit.  Every  instructed  Hebrew  knew  what 
to  believe  about  God  and  how  to  worship  Him  accept- 
ably ;  that  He  w^as  not  only  God  of  Israel,  but  also 
God  of  all  nations.  In  this  especially  is  seen  the  Di- 
vine element  of  the  Pentateuch.  It  has  a  God  for  all 
mankind,  not  a  local  Deity  for  Jacob  alone,  but  also 
for  Japheth  and  the  enemies  of  Israel  (Deut.  23  :  3-8). 
We  have  this  illustrated  in  the  prophetic  messages 
for  distant  nations  and  to  the  isles  of  the  sea  ;  in  the 
kings  who  acknowledged  Daniel's  God  to  be  God  of 
gods,  Lord  of  kings,  a  Eevealer  of  secrets  (Dan. 
2  :  47),  to  whom  Nebuchadnezzar  gave  praise  and 
honor  (4  :  37).     The  decree  of  Darius  was  ''  that  in 


THEIR  PREDICTIONS.  205 

every  dominion  of  his  kingdom  men  tremble  and  fear 
before  the  God  of  Daniel  ;  for  lie  is  the  living  God, 
and  His  kingdom  shall  not  be  destroyed  (ch.  6  :  26). 
By  Cyrus  also  He  is  recognized  as  the  Lord  God  of 
heaven  (Ezra  1:2);  by  Darius  as  the  God  of  heaven 
(ch.  6  :  2-12)  ;  by  Artaxerxes  Ezra  is  designated  the 
priest  and  scribe  of  the  law  of  the  God  of  heaven 
(7  :  21-26).  Even  Alexander  the  Great  acknowledged 
Him  in  Jerusalem.  From  Melchizedek  and  Abraham 
in  the  twentieth  century  b.c.  to  the  Ptolemy  who 
erected  a  temple  to  Jehovah  in  Egypt  in  the  second 
century  e.g.,  He  w^as  acknowledged  as  God  of  all  na- 
tions of  men  ;  by  Assyrians  in  the  time  of  Jonah,  by 
later  Babylonians  and  Persians,  by  the  men  of  Hamath 
and  of  Egypt,  by  Jews  in  Palestine  and  in  the  centres 
of  trade  and  commerce  from  the  Persian  Gulf  to  Da- 
mascus and  Joppa.  Pythagoras  visited  Babylon,  and 
probably  became  acquainted  with  some  leading  men 
of  the  captivity,  and  held  conversation  with  Daniel 
the  prophet.  However  that  may  be,  some  of  the  re- 
ported teachings  of  Pythagoras  bear  a  striking  likeness 
to  Hebrew  tlieology — viz.,  the  unity  and  purity  of 
God,  as  taught  in  that  era,  and  the  importance  of 
music  and  of  silence  in  the  religious  life  (Ps.  4:4; 
32  :  3  ;  Isa.  41  :  1  ;  46  :  10  ;  Zech.  2  :  13  ;  Hab. 
2  :  20  ;  Zeph.  1  :  T).  That  Jewish  bank  in  Babylon 
looks  like  a  fulfilment  of  Deuteronomy  28  :  12  and 
15  :  6,  where  it  is  said  that  Jacob  ''  should  lend  unto 
many  nations,  and  should  not  borrow,  as  he  borrowed," 
from  necessity  upon  leaving  the  house  of  bondage 
(Ex.  12  :  35).  It  is  difficult  to  show  that  those  verses 
are  of  later  origin  than  the  Babylonian  house.     Or 


206  THE  mOPUETS  AND 

would  we  necessitate  two  miracles  in  history  rather  than 
accept  one  inspired  prophecy  ?  Exodus  12  says  how 
they  borrowed  ;  Deuteronomy  in  two  phices  says  that 
Jacob  should  become  a  "  lender  to  others  ;"  George 
Smith  in  1874  bought  certain  terra-cotta  jars  at  Bagdad 
full  of  tablets,  and  now  translators  say  they  describe 
the  business  of  a  iirm  of  exchange  while  Hebrews 
were  captives  in  Babylon  !  Those  verses  of  Exodus 
and  Deuteronomy  were  not  late  additions  suggested 
for  the  glorification  of  a  banking  firm  ;  but  they  seem 
to  perforate  the  "  later  origin"  theory,  till  it  cannot 
hold  together.  A  Divine  element  runs  all  througli 
the  Old  Testament.  Inspiration,  like  an  endless  or 
continuous  chain,  connects  and  guards  all  the  several 
links  and  books  of  Scripture,  and  whichever  one  you 
strike,  it  is  sure  to  return  a  celestial  sound,  even 
though  we  occasionally  must  wait  for  the  eclio. 

Some  recent  criticism  claims  that  there  were  two 
authors  of  the  Book  of  Isaiah,  one  who  wrote  the  first 
forty  chapters,  and  another,  who,  howev^er,  died  be- 
fore 500  B.C.,  and  wrote  the  last  twenty -seven  chap- 
ters. This  affects  the  inspiration  of  certain  matters, 
which,  being  accomplished  facts,  needed  not  to  be  re- 
vealed, yet  in  those  chapters  are  many  things  which 
imply  inspiration.  But  passing  this,  it  is  important  to 
inquire  about  the  relation  of  the  "  Great  Unknown," 
as  the  later  Isaiah  is  styled,  to  the  Pentateuch.  Turn, 
then,  to  Isaiah  49  :  2  ;  51  :  16  ;  Exodus  33  :  22, 
where  the  sentiment  of  each  passage  is  very  similar  : 
Exodus,  "  I  will  cover  thee  with  my  hand  ;"  Isaiah, 
"  In  the  shadow  of  His  hand  hath  He  hid  me  ;"  and 
"  I  have  covered  thee  in  the  shadow  of  mine  hand." 


THEIR  PREDICTIONS.  207 

Any  modern  writer  following  another  in  using  such 
striking  expressions  would  be  said  to  have  imitated  or 
borrowed  from  the  older  author.  This  is  precisely 
what  the  Isaiah  writer  did.  He  copied  from  a  well- 
known  work,  as  familiar  to  his  Hebrew  brethren  as  to 
us  to-day  ;  but,  says  Kuenen,  he  was  in  his  grave  be- 
fore 500  B.C.,  which  is  doubtless  true  ;  how,  then,  if 
Ezra  largely  re-wrote  and  revised  the  Pentateuch  fifty 
years  later,  did  he  get  this  expression  from  the  Great 
Unknown,  who  was  a  captive  somewhere  in  the  north- 
ern empire  ?  The  expression  was  as  ancient  as 
Exodus,  well  known  to  the  second  Isaiah  who,  how- 
ever, was  not,  as  the  ancient  Exodus  was  well  known 
to  Ezra.  Works  must  have  been  well  authenticated 
to  be  acknowledged  by  those  who  returned  from  cap- 
tivity. Add  this  to  the  points  already  stated,  and  the 
reasons  for  an  ancient  Exodus  and  Deuteronomy— '2^.^., 
ancient  for  readers  of  the  sixth  century  b.c,  cannot 
be  evaded.  Compare  the  creation  account  in  Genesis 
with  Isaiah  40  :  28,  '^  The  Lord  is  an  everlasting  God, 
the  Creator  of  the  ends  of  the  earth  ;"  and  the  calling 
of  Abraham  with  41  :  8,  "Jacob  whom  I  have 
chosen,  the  seed  of  Abraham  my  friend."  Then 
"  Jahveh  magnifies  the  law,  or  makes  the  teaching 
great  and  glorious  (42  :  21).  I  am  the  Lord,  your  Holy 
One,  the  Creator  of  Israel,  your  King"  (43  :  15),  and 
to  chapter  45,  showing  how  the  author  was  permeated 
with  the  spirit  and  matter  of  Deuteronomy.  In  the 
later  Isaiah  and  in  Jeremiah  there  is  so  much  that 
clearly  echoes  the  Pentateuch,  that  it  is  impossible  for 
one  who  has  no  theory  to  sustain  not  to  see  the  rela- 
tion   and   dependence   of   these   prophets   upon   that 


208  THE  PROPHETS  AND 

teacliing.  It  is  also  a  significant  fact  tliat  the  life  of 
Jeremiah  was  saved  because  of  tlie  agreement  of  some 
of  his  utterances  with  those  of  previous  prophets, 
probably  Micah  a  century  before  Jeremiah.  But  the 
exhortations  and  predictions  they  delivered  were  in 
complete  accord  with  the  existence  of  an  ancient  Pen- 
tateuch (Jer.  26  :  4-24) :  ''  Walk  in  my  law.  Hear  ye 
the  words  of  this  covenant ;  Obey  my  voice"  (Jer.  11  : 
2,  6).  The  people  were  rebellious,  had  wandered  from 
God,  and  were  exhorted  to  return  to  Him  in  loyal 
obedience.  All  this  implies  covenant,  law,  duty, 
which  had  long  been  recognized.  Jehovah  never 
punished  for  violation  of  laws  which  did  not  exist,  and 
which  were  not  understood  as  obligatory.  Neither 
Israel  nor  Jadah  could  plead  the  baby  act — viz.,  ig- 
norance of  the  law  and  covenant  they  had  transgressed, 
and  of  which  prophets  had  so  often  warned  them. 
Upon  their  return  from  exile,  Nehemiah  (8  :  2-9)  read 
to  the  assembly  and  translated  into  the  vernacular  from 
the  Book  of  the  Law  of  God.  The  word  "  translated 
or  interpreted  "  implies  that  during  their  captivity 
their  language  had  become  changed.  Compare  Ezra 
3  :  1-7,  and  remember  that  there  were  those  present 
who  could  compare  what  they  then  heard  and  saw  with 
what  they  had  heard  and  seen  long  years  before. 
Isaiah  had  predicted  that  kings  should  be  their  nursing 
fathers,  and  the  isles  should  wait  upon  Jahveh,  their 
DeKverer  (49  :  1  ;  60  :  9,  10  ;  Jer.  33  :  7-26)  ;  and 
in  Ezra  6th,  7th,  Nehemiah  8th,  9th  ;  10  :  28  to 
11  :  2,  are  the  proofs  how  Cyrus,  Darius,  and  Artax- 
erxes,  became  nursing  fathers  and  supporters  of  the 
Jews  in  rebuilding  their  temple,  and  in  re-estabhshing 
the  worship  of  Jehovah  in  it. 


THEIR  PREDICTIONS.  209 

To  suppose  that  Ezra  originated  the  detailed  legis- 
lation of  Jacob  is  as  nnhistoric  as  to  suppose  tliat 
Sargon  U.  created  the  legislation  and  ritual  of  Assyria, 
or  that  Sargon  I.  created  the  legislation  and  ritual  of 
Babylonia  and  Accad,  or  that  Raineses  created  that  of 
Egypt,  or  that  Solon  created  that  of  Greece,  or  that 
Edward  III.  created  that  of  England.  These  all  en- 
larged and  improved  what  already  existed.  So  the 
non-writing  prophets  of  Israel  did  not  prepare  for  a 
law,  but  enforced  and  applied  acknowledged  principles 
of  conduct  both  toward  God  and  man  ;  principles 
which  had  long  been  acted  upon  in  Israel  before  they 
arose  to  enforce  them. 

In  no  civilized  country  do  we  find  a  code  of  laws 
embodied  and  detailed  in  its  literature  before  its  exist- 
ence as  a  legislation.  Rather,  laws  are  tabulated  and 
enacted  before  they  are  expounded  and  enforced  upon 
the  nation's  observance.  Israel  is  no  exception  to  this 
fact  of  universal  history.  Eules  of  life  and  conduct 
gave  tone  to  a  literature  in  which  they  were  early  in- 
corporated. 

We  see  no  contradiction  between  the  '^  mercy  and 
not  sacrifice' '  of  Hosea  6  :  6  and  the  teaching  of  Ezra, 
for  Hosea  addressed  an  apostate  people,  who  sacrificed 
to  idols,  at  the  shrines  of  Dan  and  Bethel  and  in 
chapels  of  Baal,  which  were  offensive  to  Jahveh,  and 
therefore  rebuked.  Moses  and  Samuel  could  not  re- 
store Jehovah's  favor  to' them.  Ezra,  on  the  contrary, 
sought  to  guard  his  people  from  such  sin,  and  to  tone 
them  up  to  the  loyal  service  of  God  and  His  worship. 
As  in  Deuteronomy  10  :  12  ;  13  :  8  ;  30  :  16,  he  taught 
a  pnnciple  which  reached  to  the  depth  of  all  love  and 


210    THE  PROPHETS  AND  THEIR  PREDICTIONS. 

sacrifice.  Knenen  overlooked  this  in  liis  criticism, 
and  also  the  teaching  of  Malachi,  than  whose  writing 
nothing  in  liosea  is  more  spiritual,  nothing  in  Ezra 
more  exacting.  The  margin  of  the  Kevised  Version 
reads  ^'  kindness"  for  mercy.  In  either  case  Ezra  is 
right  and  Kuenen  wrong.  But  he  rightly  says  that 
^'  the  pressure  of  Herod's  rule  no  less  than  that  of  the 
Romans  revived  and  strengthened  Messianic  expecta- 
tions in  post-exilian  Israel.  There  was  a  dominant 
conviction  that  the  subjection  of  God's  people  to  the 
heathen  was  an  anomaly  that  could  not  long  last. 
Hence  the  spirit  of  Proselytism  earnestly  manifested 
itself,  which  induced  many  Greeks  to  submit  to  Jew- 
ish laws"  ("  Hibbert  Lectures,"  Enghsh  edition,  p. 
222  ;  St.  Matt.  23  :  15).  After  so  much  suffering 
and  exile,  it  is  no  wonder  that  later  Jews  became  nar- 
row, strict  in  attention  to  details,  and  limited  in  their 
national  sympathies.  Their  law,  their  hterature,  their 
worship,  all  spoke  to  them  of  e/a<?<?J',5Godasfor  them. 
They  knew  that  the  vital  matters  in  Exodus  34 — viz., 
the  preparing  of  a  second  set  of  law  tables  which  re- 
placed the  first  that  Moses  had  broken,  the  grand 
theophany  described  in  verses  5-9,  the  appointment 
of  annual  assemblies  and  festivals,  the  consecration  of 
the  first-born,  the  long  fast  of  their  leader,  and  the 
transfiguration  of  his  countenance — were  all  for  them, 
and  were  not  the  fabrications  of  a  later  age. 


IX. 


JACOB'S  PEOPHETS  SERVE  JAPIIETH'S 
KINGS  :  A  LIGHT  TO  LIGHTEN  THE 
GENTILES. 

''  The  letters  of  the  Hebrew  books,"  says  Renan, 
'*  are  not  many,  but  they  are  letters  of  fire.  Its 
language  does  not  say  much,  but  what  it  says  is  beaten 
out  upon  an  anvil.  It  pours  out  floods  of  anger,  and 
utters  cries  of  rage  against  the  abuses  of  the  world, 
calling  the  four  winds  of  heaven  to  assault  the  citadels 
of  evil.  Like  the  jubilee  horn  of  the  sanctuary,  it  will 
be  put  to  no  profane  use,  but  it  will  sound  the  note 
of  holy  war  against  injustice,  and  the  call  to  great  as- 
semblies ;  it  will  have  accents  of  rejoicing  and  accents 
of  terror  ;  it  will  become  the  clarion  of  the  new  law 
in  Christianity  and  the  trumpet  of  judgment"  ("  Hist. 
People  of  Israel,"  vol.  i.,  p.  86).  Her  reforming 
prophets  were  the  forces  which  swept  the  world  be- 
fore them,  now  by  ministry  in  Samaria  and  Jerusalem, 
now  in  Nineveh,  in  Babylon,  in  Egypt,  and  in  Moab. 

1.  Jonah,  the  dove,  was  son  of  Amittai  of  Gatli- 
hepher,  and  was  prol)ably  one  of  Elisha's  guild,  the 
young  man  sent  to  anoint  Jehu,  the  son  of  Nimshi,  to 
''  smite  the  house  of  Ahab,  and  avenge  the  blood  of 
Jehovah's  servants  at  the  hand  of  Jezebel  "  (2  Kings 


212  JACOB'S  PROPHETS 

9  :  1-10).  He  also  uttered  a  prophecy  which  was 
accomplished  by  Jeroboam  II.  (2  Kings  14  :  25).  I 
place  him  in  the  reign  of  Assur-natsir-pal,  883-858 
B.C.,  who  made  the  name  of  Assyria  terrible  to  the 
nations,  and  whom  Professor  Sayce  calls '^  the  most 
brutal  of  her  kings."  It  was  probably  while  Assur- 
natsir-pal  ruled  Assyria  that  Jonah  visited  Kineveh 
and  delivered  his  message.  How  it  astonished  that 
people  to  hear  tlie  prophet,  as  he  walked  their  streets 
and  high  walls  compassing  the  city,  crying  :  ^'  Yet 
forty  days,  and  Nineveh  shall  be  overthrown  !' '  From 
king  to  child  the  people  humbled  themselves,  fasted, 
prayed,  put  on  sackcloth,  and  besought  God  to  turn 
away  His  fierce  anger,  that  they  should  not  perish. 
And  God  saw  that  they  turned  from  their  evil  way, 
and  deferred  the  threatened  punishment.  The  walls 
of  Nineveh  were  nine  miles  around  it,  enclosing  a  pop- 
ulation of  half  a  million  persons,  one  fifth  of  whom 
were  young  and  ignorant.  No  wonder  that  God  sent 
His  prophet  to  lighten  those  Gentiles  (St.  Matt. 
12  :  40  ;  Acts  13  :  46,  47).  Our  Lord's  reference  to 
Jonah  certifies  his  historic  character,  for  He  would  not 
compare  Himself  and  His  resurrection  to  a  fabulous 
person.  Kalisch  treats  the  prophet  as  actually  histor- 
ical, whose  personality  and  work  need  not  be  misun- 
derstood. His  book  is  composed  of  three  acts  of  one 
Divine  drama,  each  complete  in  itself,  and  all  illustrat- 
ing the  goodness  of  God  to  the  Gentiles. 

If  the  reigning  monarch  was  Assur-natsir-pal,  one 
of  the  most  cruel  kings,  his  repentance  is  the  more  re- 
markable. We  like  to  think  of  such  a  tyrant  being 
humbled  and  reformed.     That  text  and  sermon  all  in 


SERVE  JAPHETU'8  KINGS.  213 

one  sentence  struck  the  conscience  and  bore  fruit.  It 
caused  the  doom  of  sin  to  be  postponed,  but  only  post- 
poned, for  a  new  generation  which  adorned  the  prophet's 
tomb,  forgot  his  preaching.  Yet  the  city  nourished 
till  600  B.C.,  when  it  fell  by  the  conquering  Medes. 
Its  ruins  are  as  famous  as  its  former  renown.  They 
were  seen  by  Xenophon  and  his  retreating  Greeks  two 
hundred  years  later.  Jonah's  tomb  is  still  shown 
near  them,  and  in  its  dilapidation  is  said  to  cover  forty 
acres.  The  ruins  are  estimated  to  contain  six  and  a 
half  millions  of  tons  of  debris.  Many  are  the  historic 
marks  of  this  historic  prophet  and  his  mission  to  Nine- 
veh. Mere  difference  in  dates  does  not  change  the 
facts,  and  these  clearly  disprove  Kenan's  statement, 
that  ^'  Jahveh  showed  Himself  simply  as  Unser  Gott, 
local,  national,  and  tribal,  partial  and  ferocious,  a  po- 
litical slaughterer,  per  fas  et  nefas  P '  In  such  criticism 
Kenan  lets  his  zeal  for  a  theory  become  fanatical  and 
grotesque.  It  overrides  his  judgment  and  the  truth 
of  history.  God  ever  discloses  Himself  as  ready  to 
bless  mankind,  not  as  partial  and  jealous  in  a  bad 
sense,  hating  the  rest  of  the  world,  except  the  chosen 
in  Abraham,  but  seeking  to  save  men  from  sin  and 
Satan,  and  by  the  laws  of  eternal  righteousness.  In 
illustration  of  this  endeavor,  we  pass  on  to  consider, 

2.  The  author  of  the  latter  portion  of  Isaiah.  I 
have  no  theory  or  preference  for  two  writers  of  the 
book.  Some  words  in  the  present  tense  speak  of  Je- 
rusalem and  the  temple  as  being  a  wilderness  and 
burned  up  with  lire  (64  :  10,  11)  ;  that  the  sanctuary 
is  profaned,  and  Jacob  given  to  the  curse  (43  :  28)  ; 
that  the  sons  of  strangers  shall  build  thy  walls,  and 


214  JACOB'S  PUOPUETS 

tlieir  kings  shall  minister  unto  thee  (60  :  10)  ;  and 
the  call  to  arise,  sliake  off  the  dust  and  loose  the  bands 
of  captivity  (52  :  2,  3),  all  which  may  have  been  writ- 
ten between  586  b.c,  and  the  reign  of  Cyrus  in  Baby- 
lon, 538  B.C.  But  to  make  the  predictions  touching 
Cyrus  history  and  not  prophecy  is  to  force  a  meaning 
upon  them  quite  foreign  to  the  letter  :  "  Thus  saith  the 
Lord  to  His  anointed,  to  Cyrus,  whose,  right  hand  I 
have  holden,  to  subdue  nations  before  him,  and  I  will 
loose  the  loins  of  kings  ;  to  open  the  doors  before  him, 
and  the  gates  shall  not  be  shut  ;  I  will  go  before  thee, 
and  make  the  rugged  places  plain  ;  1  will  break  in 
pieces  the  doors  of  brass,  and  cut  in  sunder  the  bars 
of  iron  :  and  I  will  give  thee  the  treasures  of  dark- 
ness, and  hidden  riches  of  secret  places,  that  thou  may- 
est  know  that  I  am  the  Lord,  which  call  thee  by  thy 
name,  even  the  God  of  Israel"  (Isa.  45  :  1-3).  For 
the  same  reasons  that  we  accept  the  then  present  deso- 
lations of  the  holy  city  do  we  insist  that  these  verses 
were  written  before  the  capture  of  Babylon  in  538. 
Truth  demands  consistency.  The  prophet  at  once  en- 
courages Cyrus  and  exhorts  Israel.  She  was  yet  to  be 
delivered  from  captivity  ;  Cyrus  was  yet  to  take  Baby- 
lon. Neither  was  then  done.  Hence,  we  must  add 
thirty-eight  years  to  Kuenen's  date,  and  say,  those 
prophecies  were  probably  uttered  before  540  b.c,  and 
whether  the  writer  ever  saw  Cyrus  or  not,  he  served 
him  as  a  noble  king  of  Japheth,  for  whom  Jahveh  had 
a  special  work  ;  and  who  became  a  nursing  father  of 
Jacob's  children. 

Moreover,  this  prophet  not  only  serves   Cyrus,  he 
also  calls  upon  the  islands  and  the  peoples  to  renew 


SERVE  JAPHETH'S  KINGS.  215 

their  strengtli,  and  to  consider  the  wonders  which  Je- 
hovah was  about  to  perform  ;  the  Lord,  the  first  and 
the  last,  was  He  (ISo  41  :  1-5).  A  Saviour  and  a  right- 
eous worker  or  Judge  shall  be  given  as  a  light  for  the 
Gentiles  and  a  covenant  of  the  people  (42  :  1,  6). 
Saith  Jahveh  :  Egypt,  Ethiopia,  Sabeans,  men  of  stat- 
ure, shall  come  and  confess  that  God  is  in  thee,  and 
there  is  no  other.  But  the  G  od  of  Israel,  the  Saviour, 
who  had  hidden  Himself,  should  now  be  known  and 
acknowledged  by  all  the  ends  of  the  earth,  who  were 
invited  to  look  to  Ilim  (45  :  14-22).  Mark  verse  23  : 
^'  By  myself  have  I  sworn,  the  word  is  gone  forth  from 
my  mouth  in  righteousness,  and  shall  not  return,  that 
unto  Me  eve7'y  hnee  shall  bow.,  every  tongue  shall 
swear.'*''  It  evidently  includes  the  people  of  Japheth 
as  well  as  of  Jacob. 

Then  Babylon  is  exhorted  to  humiliation  and  repent- 
ance. '^  Hear  now  this — two  things  shall  come  upon 
thee  in  one  day,  the  loss  of  children  and  widowhood." 
From  the  context  we  may  infer  that  '^  widowhood  " 
included  the  loss  of  sovereignty  or  kingship  and  the 
loss  or  purification  of  their  religion,  of  their  astrolo- 
gers, sorcerers,  and  prognosticators  (Is.  47  :  1,  8-13). 
As  history  certifies,  the  Persian  conquest  of  Babylon 
led  to  the  reformation  of  its  religion,  and  the  succes- 
sor of  Cyrus  was  an  iconoclast.  The  images  were 
broken  to  pieces.  Jacob  w^as  avenged  in  Babylon,  and 
delivered  from  it,  with  the  restoration  of  his  sacred 
things  (Ezra  1  :  1-11  ;  Isa.  48  :  20).  In  chapter 
49  :  1,  22,  23,  26,  ''  the  people  of  the  isles,  the  Gen- 
tiles from  far  are  to  bring  Israel's  sons  in  their  arms, 
and  his  daughters  upon  their  shoulders  ;  kings  are  to 


216  JACOB'S  PROPHETS 

be  nursing  fathers,  and  their  queens  nursing  mothers 
to  them  ;  they  shall  bow  down  to  the  earth,  and  all 
flesh  shall  know  that  I  the  Lord,  am  thy  Saviour  and 
thy  Redeemer."  (Compare  Is.  60  :  3-16.)  Again, 
''  Behold,  the  Lord  hath  proclaimed  unto  the  end  of 
the  earth.  Say  ye  to  the  daughter  of  Zion,  Behold,  thy 
salvation  cometh  ;  behold,  his  reward  is  with  him, 
and  his  recompense  before  him"  (62  :  11).  Even 
"  the  isles  afar  off  shall  declare  my  glory  among  the 
nations.  And  of  them  also  will  I  take  for  priests  and 
for  Levites,  saith  the  Lord''  {<dQ  :  19-21). 

"The  author,"  says  Dr.  Briggs,  "stands  on  the 
loftiest  peak  of  prophecy.  He  masses  more  Messianic 
predictions  in  his  book  than  any  who  preceded  him  ; 
carries  the  Messianic  idea  to  a  much  higher  stage  of 
development,  and  becomes  the  evangelical  prophet, 
the  nearest  to  the  Messiah  and  the  theology  of  the 
New  Covenant"  (p.  337).  But  the  striking  fact 
which  emphasizes  God's  providence  for  mankind,  is 
that  a  prophet  of  the  captivity  should  be  enabled  to 
rise  above  his  surroundings,  and  by  inspiration  utter 
such  strong,  comforting  words  to  his  brethren,  and 
such  sacred  truths  to  the  Gentiles,  at  once  making 
known  the  power  and  grace  of  the  Lord  in  the  resto- 
ration of  His  people  to  Judea,  and  also  in  setting  Him 
forth  as  the  God  and  Saviour  of  the  nations.  The 
isles  shall  wait  upon  Him  ;  all  flesh  shall  worship  Him. 
We  have  nothing  preserved  to  us  of  prophets  of  tlie 
ninth  century,  which  is  superior  to  this  of  all  who  ut- 
tered Messianic  predictions.  They  were  Reformers  of 
their  age,  as  Amos,  Hosea,  Micah  were  reforming 
prophets  for  the  eighth  century,  and  their  voice  went 


SERVE  JAP  BETH' 8  KINGS.  217 

out  in  preparation  for  the  Redeemer  of  Jacob  and  of 
Japlietli. 

3.  Micali,  the  Morasthite,  flourished  in  the  days  of 
king  Hezekiah  and  others,  between  750  and  700  b.c. 
His  earliest  utterance  was  not  before  757,  nor  his  lat- 
est after  697  ;  and  he  was  probably  thirty  years  old 
when  he  began  to  prophecy.  His  work  is  undoubted 
by  critics,  and  his  era  fixed.  Yet  he  prophesied  that 
the  Assyrian  should  come  into  Israel,  and  tread  in  her 
palaces,  but  the  land  of  Assyria  should  be  wasted  with 
the  sword,  and  the  land  of  Nimrod  (5  :  5,  6).  It  is  a 
prophecy  of  the  most  demonstrable  kind,  a  making 
known  of  what  was  to  come  to  pass.  But  we  are 
concerned  with  this  prophet  as  Messianic,  and  as  the 
one  whose  deliverances  saved  the  life  of  Jeremiah  a 
century  later.  Both  uttered  their  oracles  against  Je- 
rusalem, and  when  the  enemies  of  Jeremiah  said  that 
he  ought  to  die  for  his  unpatriotic  prediction,  his 
friends  replied  that  Micah  in  the  days  of  Hezekiah 
had  also  declared  that  Zion  should  be  ploughed  as  a 
field,  Jerusalem  become  heaps,  and  the  mountain  of 
the  house  the  high  places  of  a  forest  (Micah  3  :  12  ; 
Jer.  26  :  4-19).  This  precedent  of  bold  truth-tell- 
ing saved  Jeremiah's  life  at  that  time.  It  connects  to- 
gether those  two  prophets,  who  thus  authenticate  each 
other.  Jeremiah  predicted  that '  *  seventy  years  should 
be  accomplished  at  Babylon"  (ch.  29  :  10  ;  25  : 
12-14)  ;  he  repeats  the  threatening  and  deportation  in 
chapters  21  and  22,  and  declares  the  destruction  of 
those  who  carried  them  captive  and  the  deliverance  of 
Israel  in  chapters  51  and  52.  Those  prophecies  were 
studied  by  Daniel,  who  is  also  authenticated  and  com- 
10 


218  JACOB'S  PROPHETS 

mended  bj  Ezekiel  (14  :  14,  20)  ;  lie  asks  the  prince 
of  Tyre,  whose  pride  had  inflated  him  as  though  he 
were  a  god,  ''  Art  thou  wiser  than  Daniel  ?"  (28  :  3). 
These  references  are  enough  to  show  that  oracles 
spoken  in  Judea  were  known  at  Nineveh  and  Babylon, 
that  Micah  and  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel  and  Daniel,  testified 
of  each  other  and  foretold  future  events. 

Moreover,  if  there  were  two  Isaiahs,  the  second  of 
them  wrote  while  captive  in  Assyria,  and,  like  other 
Exile  prophets,  was  acquainted  with  the  cuneiform 
writing.  Hence  it  is  not  too  much  to  expect  that  a 
cuneiform  second  Isaiah,  if  there  ever  was  one,  a 
cuneiform  Ezekiel,  and  a  cuneiform  Daniel,  in  sets  of 
tablets  preserved  in  terra-cotta  jars,  maybe  found,  and 
satisfy  all  inquirers.  Already  such  a  "  find"  has  si- 
lenced forever  those  who  doubted  Isaiah's  correctness 
touching  Sargon  of  Assyria.  His  inscriptions  have 
illustrated  the  prophet  who  for  two  thousand  years 
preserved  his  name  in  human  memory.  A  similar 
''  find  "  is  probable,  which  shall  illustrate  the  prophets 
of  the  Exile. 

4.  Even  from  his  birth  Jeremiah  was  called  to  be  a 
prophet,  and  began  his  work  in  the  thirteenth  year  of 
King  Josiah,  who  had  already  commenced  his  reforma- 
tion of  religion  in  Judah.  This  prophet  and  this  king 
w^ere  contemporaries  during  eighteen  years.  What 
the  continued  life  of  Josiah  for  twenty  or  thirty  years 
longer,  with  such  an  adviser,  would  have  effected  we 
cannot  say.  But  his  premature  death  in  his  thirty- 
ninth  year  left  the  sinners  in  Zion  and  the  enemies  of 
Jeremiah  free  to  plot  against  and  persecute  him.  He 
suffered  much  from  well- to-do  Jews,   because  he  re- 


SERVE  JAPUETirS  KINGS.  219 

buked  them  for  their  wickedness  and  predicted  the  de- 
struction of  their  temple  and  city  by  the  Chaldeans. 
But  he  also  prophesied  against  Babylon,  and  when  a 
captive  in  the  Nile  land  raised  his  voice  against  Egypt. 
By  keeping  the  names  distinctly  before  ns,  we  shall 
find  this  gentle  and  lone  man  of  God  as  true  as  steel 
in  denouncing  all  unrighteousness  ;  now  prophesying 
against  Jerusaleinites  and  their  wicked  rulers,  now 
against  Babylonians,  Egyptians,  and  Ethiopians,  now 
against  Philistia,  Moab,  and  Ammon,  now  against 
Edom  and  Damascus,  Kedar  and  Hazor  and  Elam  ; 
even  as  God  overthrew  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  they 
shall  be  overthrown  by  the  Modes  and  northern  na- 
tions. The  last  dated  utterance  of  Jeremiah  is  in 
chapter  44,  about  570  b.c,  and  while  yet  a  captive  at 
Tahpanhes.  If  born  in  629,  he  was  only  about  sixty 
years  old  when  he  ceased  his  prophetic  mission.  lie 
liad  for  sixteen  years  survived  the  destruction  of  Je- 
rusalem, when  he  died  in  the  land  wherein  Jacob  was 
a  stranger.  Yet  he  was  as  confident  of  his  country's 
restoration  as  of  her  punishment,  and  sent  his  servant 
to  purchase  the  field  at  Anathoth,  a  town  of  Benjamin, 
of  his  nephew  Hanameel  ;  and  the  purchase  was  duly 
certified  to,  and  the  money  paid  before  witnesses,  ac- 
cording to  the  law  and  custom  of  the  place  (Jer.  32  :  1- 
25).  This  chapter  of  Jeremiah  is  at  once  a  judgment 
and  a  promise,  a  threat  and  an  encouragement :  '^  Men 
shall  buy  fields  for  money,  and  subscribe  deeds,  and 
seal  them,  and  call  witnesses,  in  Benjamin,  in  Jerusa- 
lem, and  in  the  cities  of  Judah,  in  the  hill  country,  in 
the  lowlands,  and  in  the  south  ;  for  I  loill  cause  tlieir 
captivity  to  return^  saith  the  Lord"  (verse  44).     This 


220  JACOB'S  PROPHETS 

assurance  prompted  Daniel  in  Babylon,  in  the  first 
year  of  Darius  the  Mede,  to  look  for  the  end  of  the 
captivity  of  Judah — viz.,  the  seventy  years  which  had 
been  appointed  (Dan.  9:1,2).  In  Ezra's  first  chap- 
ter we  read  how  Cyrus  issued  an  imperial  decree  for 
all  the  Jews  of  his  dominions  to  return  to  their  native 
land  ;  for,  saitli  he,  ''The  Lord  God  of  heaven  hath 
charged  me  to  build  Him  a  house  at  Jerusalem  in 
Judah"  (verse  2).  All  the  sacred  vessels  which  Neb- 
uchadnezzar had  taken  away  were  to  be  restored  to  the 
new  temple,  with  the  captives  from  Babylon  (verses 
7,  11).  Such  is  the  evidence  of  the  genuineness  and 
credibility  of  Jeremiah's  book  that  it  has  been  uni- 
versally received  as  authentic.  Some  confusion  exists 
in  the  present  arrangement  of  the  different  predic- 
tions. Emphatic  is  his  word  against  false  prophets  in 
Jerusalem  and  in  Babylon  (chs.  23,  28,  29). 

5.  Next  in  order  of  the  exilo-prophets  is  Ezekiel, 
who  was  early  carried  captive  into  the  region  of  Che- 
bar,  or  Nahr  Malcha,  the  royal  canal  upon  which 
Nebuchadnezzar  employed  vast  numbers  of  those  whom 
he  had  forced  away  from  their  homes.  It  ran  from 
the  Euphrates  at  Sippara  to  a  lake  near  Borsippa,  and  ir- 
rigated the  adjacent  lands — so  Kawlinson  ;  but,  accord- 
ing to  others,  from  Sippara  to  Cuthah,  which  is  men- 
tioned among  the  places  from  which  the  king  of  As- 
syria carried  those  whom  he  located  in  Samaria  (2 
Kings  17  :  6,  21:),  which  means  an  exchange  of  the  in- 
habitants of  those  cities,  Cuthah  being  among  them. 
The  Chebar  of  Ezekiel  can  hardly  be  the  Chaboras 
which  enters  the  Euphrates  two  hundred  miles  north 
of  Babylon.     Cuthah  seems  to  have  been  an  old  town 


SERVE  JAPHETR'a^ KINGS.  221 

with  fixed  traditions,  and  so  a  safe  place  for  Hebrew 
captives.  To  such  a  place  Ezekiel,  with  many  others, 
was  taken,  the  king,  nobles,  priests,  and  well-to-do 
persons  being  of  the  number.  Hence  it  appears  that 
he  was  of  high  respectability  ;  he  married,  lived  in  his 
own  house,  in  a  colony  of  fellow-exiles.  Suddenly, 
however,  his  wife  died  (Eze.  1:1;  3:15,  24:;  8:1; 
2tl:  :  18).  He  began  his  prophecy  in  the  thirtieth  year 
of  his  age,  or  of  the  reigning  dynasty,  b.c.  597,  and 
eleven  years  before  Jerusalem  was  destroyed.  His 
last  deliverance  is  dated  in  the  twenty-seventh  year  of 
his  exile,  or  570  b.c.  (Eze.  29  :  17-20).  He  predicts 
that  Egypt  shall  be  given  to  Nebuchadnezzar,  a  reward 
for  his  services  against  Tyre,  and  that  soon  after  the 
house  of  Israel  should  bud  forth  in  the  midst  of  them. 
Sometimes  his  fellow-exiles  were  offended  at  his  plain 
speaking  against  them,  and  for  his  reproving  words 
while  in  banishment  ;  but  the  Lord  said  :  ""  Speak  my 
words  unto  them,  whether  they  will  hear,  or  forbear" 
(2  :  1-8).  Later  they  held  him  in  high  esteem,  and 
the  rulers  visited  him  in  his  house  (14  :  1-14  ;  20  :  1- 
4).  From  chapter  4  :  1  it  is  evident  that  Ezekiel  un- 
derstood cuneiform  writing,  and  that  he  may  have  writ- 
ten some  of  his  oracles  in  cuneiform  character  for  the 
use  of  Babylonian  Jews  and^ natives.  Indeed,  he  was 
commanded  to  portray  upon  one  of  the  writing  bricks 
the  city  Jerusalem  as  besieged,  with  embankments  and 
battering  rams  placed  around  it.  Even  if  this  was  in 
any  one  of  the  first  eleven  years  he  was  a  captive  and 
before  the  ruin  of  his  city,  it  was  a  revelation  to  his 
fellows  of  what  was  about  to  happen  at  Jerusalem 
(24  :  1-21).     There  were  no  newspapers  in  those  days. 


222  JACOB'S  PROPHETS 

and  so,  thongli  living  near  the  capital  of  the  empire, 
he  and  they  might  be  as  ignorant  of  transpiring  events 
in  Judea  as  we  are  of  occurrences  in  Alaska.  And  if 
it  was  Sippara  or  Sepharvaim  which  gave  name  to  his 
district,  that  was  noted  as  an  old  literary  centre. 
Many  are  the  reasons  why  prophets  of  the  Exile  should 
write  the  cuneiform  style,  even  as  the  disciples  of  our 
Lord  wrote  in  Greek.  Hence  the  reasonableness  of 
discoveries  of  tablets  in  Babylonia  of  prophets  of  the 
captivity.  By  comparing  chapter  8  :  18  with  Micah 
3  :  4  and  Zechariah  Y  :  13  one  observes  the  close  agree- 
ment in  the  thought  and  expression  of  each  writer.  So 
also  in  Ezekiel  8:2-4;  Daniel  7  :  9,  10  ;  Habakkuk 
3  :  3-6,  we  have  similar  descriptions  of  the  God  of 
heaven,  of  the  Ancient  of  daj^s,  of  the  glory  and 
brightness  of  Him  before  whom  the  mountains  were 
scattered  and  the  hills  did  bow.  Clearly  they  are 
not  accidental  coincidences,  but  designed,  and  evi- 
dencing an  inspired  authorship.  The  denunciations 
of  Ezekiel  against  Judah  are  all  the  more  striking 
when  we  reflect  that  they  were  made  in  exile  and  to 
exiles,  and  sent  from  them  to  Jerusalem.  Compare 
those  beginning  at  chapter  16  and  continued  to  chapter 
25.  He  has  a  word  against  Ammon  and  Moab,  Edom 
and  Philistia  ;  in  chapters  26-28  against  Tyre  and 
Zidon.  In  chapter  29  he  prophesies  against  Egypt, 
and  continues  his  description  of  her  desolations  by 
Babylon  in  chapter  30  ;  while  in  chapters  31  and  32 
he  proclaims  against  Babylon  herself,  which  shall  fall 
by  the  sword  of  the  mighty.  Then  he  returns  to 
lament  Israel,  Egypt,  and  Edom.  But  as  dry  bones 
may  be  reclothed  and  made  to  live  by  the  breath  of 


SERVE  JAPUETirS  KINGS.  223 

God,  so  shall  Jacob,  His  chosen,  be  restored  bj  the 
Spirit  and  power  of  Jehovah  (37  :  1-12)  ;  in  verses 
13-28  the  everhisting  covenant  shall  be  renewed  and 
the  sanctuary  forever  established,  and  the  nations  shall 
know  that  He  is  the  Lord.  Chapter  38  foretells  the 
war  of  Gog  and  Magog,  in  which  many  Gentile  na- 
tions shall  be  involved,  and  they  shall  know  that  God 
is  the  Lord.  Thus  Ezekiel  discloses  many  things  for 
Jacob  and  for  Japheth.  God  will  set  His  glory 
among  the  nations  (39  :  21).  The  prophet  of  doom 
becomes  a  prophet  of  hope  and  deliverance  and  sal- 
vation. But  he,  like  the  later  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah, 
died  in  captivity,  and  saw  not  the  good  days  of  which 
he  spoke.  Of  the  manner  of  his  taking  off  we  know 
nothing  at  present,  nor  is  there  any  good  reason  for 
believing  that  he  gave  Pythagoras  an  audience,  nor 
that  his  pretended  tomb,  shown  near  Bagdad,  ever 
contained  an  autograph  copy  of  his  prophecies.  It  is, 
however,  assuring  to  know  that  his  book  is  recognized 
as  genuine  by  all  critics,  even  by  those  who  cavil  at 
his  fellow-exile  and  contemporary.  If  he  was  thirty 
years  of  age  when  he  began  to  prophesy  in  597,  and 
he  died  soon  after  his  last,  in  570,  he  scarcely  lived  and 
rounded  sixty  years. 

6.  We  pass  now  to  him  whom  he  left  in  Babylon, 
whom  he  authenticates  and  resembles  in  the  passages 
already  noticed  :  Daniel  was  a  prophet  of  royal  de- 
scent, royal  associations  and  royal  favors,  whose  prerog- 
ative it  was  to  proclaim  the  King  of  kings  in  the 
palaces  of  Babylon,  and  to  foretell  the  progress  of 
earthly  kingdoms  and  of  the  kingdom  of  righteous- 
ness.    He  was  born  in  about  618  b.c,  was  carried  a 


224  JACOB'S  PROPHETS 

captive  to  Babylon  at  the  first  appearance  of  Nebu- 
chadnezzar against  Jerusalem  in  605.  Then  he  was 
put  in  the  training  school  of  the  Chaldeans  and  edu- 
cated for  the  service  of  the  king,  whose  wonderful 
dream,  which  he  had  forgotten,  greatly  troubled  him, 
but  which,  after  a  night  of  prayer  with  his  compan- 
ions that  God  would  reveal  it,  Daniel  interpreted  to 
Nebuchadnezzar,  and  so  saved  the  lives  of  the  whole 
college  of  learned  men  of  Babylon,  because  they  could 
not  make  known  the  dream  nor,  of  course,  its  interpre- 
tation. This  was  in  the  second  year  of  the  king's 
reign,  and  when  Daniel  was  not  more  than  seventeen 
years  old.  Yet  as  a  reward  he  was  highly  promoted 
in  office,  rank,  and  dignity,  being  made  chief  of  the 
college  and  a  counsellor  of  the  royal  court.  It  w^as 
fifteen  years  before  the  fall  of  the  holy  city.  Thus 
early  did  this  prophet  preach  the  truth  that  the  God 
of  heaven  had  revealed  such  and  such  things  to  Nebu- 
chadnezzar. Whereupon  the  king  said  to  Daniel,  ^'  Of 
a  truth  your  God  is  the  God  of  gods,  and  the  Lord  of 
kings,  and  a  revealer  of  secrets,  seeing  thou  hast  been 
able  to  reveal  this  secret."  Then  the  king  promoted 
Daniel  and  his  three  young  friends  (ch.  2  :  1-49). 
Captain  Arioch  was  the  instrument  of  communication 
with  the  king.  The  event  was  a  marvellous  and  im- 
pressive one,  and  the  whole  court,  the  learned  and 
religious  orders,  with  their  families  and  the  chief  men 
of  Babylon,  were  deeply  concerned  both  at  the  possible 
and  the  actual  issue  of  affairs.  A  young  Hebrew  cap- 
tive had  become  chief  counsellor,  and  his  three  youth- 
ful friends,  who  were  also  captives,  w^ere  set  over  the 
district  of  Babylon  !     It  is  as  if  some  Hindoo  hostages 


SERVE  JAPHE'rirS  KINGS.  226 

were  suddenly  advanced  to  the  hif^liest  trusts  in  the 
gift  of  the  British  sovereign  !  Yet  we  are  expected 
by  certain  critics  to  believe  that  such  an  affair  as  the 
king's  dream,  the  wonderful  interpretation  by  Daniel, 
and  the  consequent  promotion  of  those  young  men  by 
the  king,  were  the  invented  forgeries  of  some  patriotic 
Jew  three  centuries  later  !  Let  those  wlio  can  swallow 
such  a  camel  do  it ;  we  prefer  to  accept  the  record  as  a 
true  account  of  the  events  and  persons  concerned. 

It  was  an  age  of  commercial  and  literary  activity. 
Prompt  despatch  of  the  news  of  the  fall  of  Nineveh 
had  been  carried  to  Egypt,  had  been  known  at  Baby- 
lon and  in  Jerusalem.  Pharaoh- Neclio  had  prepared 
to  contend  with  any  who  opposed  him  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  East.  He  routed  the  army  of  Josiah, 
and  slew  him  at  Megiddo.  But  this  battle  only  de- 
layed the  final  struggle  of  Egypt  against  Babylon  for 
the  empire  of  the  world.  If  Josiah  had  remained 
neutral,  or  if  he  had  united  with  Pharaoh-Necho 
against  Nebuchadnezzar,  a  very  different  issue  might 
have  followed  the  contest  at  Carchemish,  and  Egypt, 
not  Babylon,  might  have  succeeded  in  the  mastery  of 
Assyria  and  her  provinces.  But  that  was  not  to  be, 
and  the  foolishness  of  Josiah  caused  his  own  death 
and  sealed  the  doom  of  Egypt,  while  it  also  sealed  the 
doom  of  Judah.  The  first  part  of  Nebuchadnezzar's 
dream  was  fulfilled  when  he  conquered  Egypt,  dom- 
inated the  countries  about  the  Tigris  and  in  Syria, 
subdued  Phoenicia,  and  destroyed  the  city  of  David, 
with  the  temple  of  Solomon.  The  old  Semites,  mixed 
as  they  had  now  become,  were  better  fitted  for  the 
world's  empire  than  the  unprogressive  Ilamites  of  the 
10* 


226  JACOB'S  PROPHETS 

Nile  land,  who  also  had  had  their  day  of  glory  and  of 
power.  Moreover,  beyond  the  Tigris,  north  and 
south,  were  the  rising  Medes  and  Persians,  whom 
Providence  had  appointed  to  the  sovereignty  of  earth 
for  a  time,  to  break  in  pieces  the  images  of  Babylon 
and  of  Egypt,  to  care  his  people  of  their  tendency  to 
idolatry,  and  restore  them  to  their  own  land.  Among 
Judea's  mountains  should  arise  a  Power  not  of  human 
hands,  which  should  become  an  everlasting  kingdom  ; 
this  was  the  last  part  of  the  royal  dream  and  its  inter- 
pretation. It  had  no  sort  of  relevancy  to  the  times  of 
Antiochus  Epiphanes  and  the  Maccabeans,  but  to  the 
Everlasting  Light  for  the  salvation  of  the  Gentiles. 
Thus,  Hebrew  captives  in  Babylonia  would  be  tenfold 
more  a  blessing  to  the  world  than  if  in  Egypt,  and  it 
would  repay  the  Chaldean  fostering  care  of  Abraham 
fifteen  centuries  previously.  It  also  illustrates  how 
Providence  attends  upon  the  birth  and  destiny  of  na- 
tions, yet  leaves  all  free  to  work  out  their  own  natural 
tendencies.  Evidence  is  wanting  that  Jeremiah  ad- 
vised or  approved  Josi all's  attack  on  Pharaoh-Necho, 
though  he  lamented  his  untimely  death  (2  Chron. 
35  :  20-25).  The  prophet  proved  himself  to  be  a  loyal 
Hebrew.  At  Babylon  there  was  another  equally 
noble  and  loyal,  of  wonderful  knowledge,  piety,  and 
devotion,  and  of  marvellous  faith  that  God  heard  and 
answered  prayers  to  Him  (Dan.  2  :  14—23).  Thus  we 
see  how  sacred  history  is  the  manifestation  of  God  to 
the  world  in  preparation  for  His  Son.  It  was  in  Exile 
that  Hebrew  prophets  became  in  a  new  sense  prophets 
of  Japheth.  It  led  to  the  enlargement  of  the  king- 
dom of  God  among  men.     Inspiration  went  forth  from 


SERVE  JAPUETIl'S  KINQS.  227 

tlie  city  and  temple  where  Jehovah  was  enthroned  and 
llis  people  dwelt,  among  all  nations.  Thenceforth 
the  Jew  as  sucli  retires  to  the  background  of  the 
prophetic  scene,  and  a  new  kingdom,  also  rising  out  of 
the  mountains  of  Judca,  is  to  be  established  for  the 
healing  of  mankind,  and  take  precedence  in  human 
history.  This  is  a  grand  fact,  which  has  been  only 
partly  understood,  that  the  Exile  of  Israel  prepared 
for  the  reign  of  Jesus  Christ  among  men.  And  in 
the  accomplishment  of  this  Daniel  was  an  active 
agent.  With  all  the  learning  of  the  Chaldeans  added 
to  that  of  the  Hebrews,  he  served  T^ebuchadnezzar 
through  his  long  reign  of  forty-three  years,  and  sur- 
vived him  and  his  successors  down  to  the  fall  of  Baby- 
lon and  the  capture  of  the  city  in  538  b.c.  Darius  the 
Mede  then  began  to  reign,  and  Daniel  became  one  of 
his  chief  governors.  What  Joseph  had  been  to 
Pharaoh  in  the  interpretation  of  his  dreams  and  the 
management  of  affairs,  that  and  more,  perhaps,  was 
Daniel  to  Nebuchadnezzar.  Both  kings  acknowledged 
Jehovah  as  the  One  Supreme,  King  of  kings  and 
Lord  of  lords. 

It  is  no  part  of  my  plan  to  write  a  commentary  on 
the  Book  of  Daniel,  which  is  well  done  in  the  ^^  Speak- 
ers' Commentary  ;"  in  Dr.  Pusey's  "  Lectures  ;"  by  M. 
Stuart ;  in  Keil  and  Delitzsch  ;  on  chapters  1-6  by  the 
present  Dean  of  Canterbury,  etc.  Yet  it  is  fitting, 
now  that  the  book  is  assailed  by  Eenan  and  Elsmere, 
and  those  for  whom  they  stand,  to  consider  some  points 
which  tend  to  authenticate  the  text  and  an  inspired 
authorship.  In  the  memorable  incident  of  those  three 
young  men  recorded  in  chapter  3,  we  have  the  grand 


228  JACOB'S  PliOPIIETS 

spectacle  of  an  image  set  up  in  the  plain  of  Dura. 
Not  caring  for  its  size  and  composition,  we  note  tlie 
defiance  of  the  king's  mandate  by  three  of  his  officers. 
They  would  not  bow  to  the  image,  symbol  of  nothing 
living  to  them.  Nay,  they  even  told  the  monarch 
they  would  not  serve  his  gods,  nor  worship  the  image 
he  had  set  up  (verse  18).  In  punishment  for  such 
disobedience  and  rebellion,  they  were  cast  into  a  heat- 
ed furnace  of  flame,  which  instantly  killed  the  officers 
who  were  about  to  throw  them  into  the  fire.  The  king 
passionately  observed  the  details  of  procedure,  and  to 
his  amazement  beheld  a  fourth  form,  like  a  son  of  God, 
walking  with  them  in  the  burning  furnace,  but  not  a 
particle  of  harm  had  come  to  the  young  men  !  Im- 
pulsive as  he  was,  he  knew  that  was  not  natural,  and 
he  would  test  what  it  was,  and  why  the  scene  was  as  it 
appeared.  He  called  the  saved  ones  from  the  fire, 
carefully  examined  them,  and  confessed  that  none  but 
their  God  could  have  preserved  them  alive.  Then  he 
made  a  decree  that  no  one  in  his  dominions  should 
speak  a  word  against  the  God  of  those  young  men, 
and  he  promoted  them  in  office  in  the  province  of 
Babylon  (verses  19-30).  As  we  all  know,  the  account 
is  that  of  an  Eastern  despot,  who  was  religious  in  his 
way,  and  who  tried  to  force  the  observance  of  his  way 
upon  all  his  subjects.  He  was  the  most  famous  of 
the  last  Babylonian  dynasty.  He  was  surrounded  by 
courtiers  and  learned  men — Daniel  himself  being 
among  them — but  was  not  implicated  at  this  time. 
Records  of  such  occurrences,  of  the  new  god,  of  the 
disobedience  and  the  penalty  inflicted,  were  usually 
made  In  the  bricks.     Perhaps  the  priestly  influence 


SERVE  JAPHETirS  KINGS.  229 

was  such  as  to  prevent  such  record  tlien,  and  perhaps 
such  a  record  may  yet  be  found  in  the  ruins  of  the 
city  not  yet  examined.  But,  however  that  may  be, 
it  is  not  the  sort  of  events  which  writers  fabricate,  nor 
a  role  which  impostors  care  to  play.  All  the  chances 
of  discovery  are  against  them,  and  the  punishment  of 
failure  is  greater  than  the  reward  for  success.  Just  as 
sure  as  we  detect  the  true  and  the  poetical  in  Shake- 
speare might  the  men  of  the  second  century  b.c.  de- 
tect what  was  true  or  false  in  the  pro2:>hecics  and  visions 
of  Daniel.  Whatever  the  additions  in  the  Greek 
version,  the  old  text  affords  no  ground  for  doubting 
the  account  as  we  have  it.  Of  course  it  contains  the 
miraculous  ;  so  does  the  history  of  Joseph  and  his 
brethren,  of  Samuel  and  Eli,  of  Elijah  and  Ahab,  of 
Micah  and  Jeremiah,  of  Isaiah  and  Ezekiel  ;  why  not, 
then,  the  visions  and  events  of  Daniel  ? 

Pagan  Porphyry  would  palm  off  upon  his  readers 
things  more  strange,  and  without  sufficient  reason. 
Every  reader  of  his  ''  Pythagoras"  knows  how  he  tries 
to  represent  the  followers  of  that  philosopher  as  more 
enduring  than  Christians,  more  spiritual  and  charitable 
than  those  baptized  disciples  who  distributed  to  every 
member  of  the  Church  according  to  his  need.  From 
his  time  till  now  there  have  been  those  who  urcre  ob- 
jections  against  Daniel  as  they  read  him,  which,  how- 
ever, arise  not  from  want  of  authentication  of  the  con- 
tents of  the  Book,  but  because  portions  of  it  are  pal- 
pably supernatural,  and  Christians  claim  inspiration  for 
the  writer  !  Precisely.  But  no  Christian  is  bound  to 
accept  a  line  of  the  contents  till  competent  men  have 
sifted  the  evidence  upon  which  its   truthfulness  de- 


230  JACOB'S  PHOPHETS 

pends.  Clearly  there  is  no  a  priori  reason  against  the 
miraculous  and  the  inspiration  of  Daniel,  which  may 
not  be  urged  against  his  contemporaries,  Jeremiah  and 
Ezekiel.  Yet  they  are  undoubted  and  accepted  by 
all  critics  whom  any  Christian  would  recognize  as 
authority  in  the  matter.  The  fact  that  some  fabrica- 
tions of  second-century  Jews  got  added  to  the  Alexan- 
drine version — whether  now  accepted  by  the  Roman 
Church  matters  not — does  not  bind  any  reader  to  ac- 
knowledge more  than  is  duly  authenticated  in  the  He- 
brew and  Aramaic  text.  All  know  that  it  is  only  the 
genuine,  not  the  spurious,  which  is  counterfeited. 
Of  the  miraculous,  the  one  question  for  us  is,  Is  it 
properly  authenticated  f 

And  this  brings  us  to  chapter  4,  the  very  crux  of  the 
book.  The  school  of  Kuenen  and  Renan  admit  that 
there  was  an  increasing  tendency  to  Jewish  exclusive- 
ness  after  the  return  from  Exile,  and  that  this  spirit 
was  active  and  dominant  in  the  second  century  e.g. 
We  accept  this  admission  as  entirely  true.  But  con- 
sider :  no  patriotic  Jew  of  that  era  could  therefore 
forge  or  fabricate  a  story  like  the  account  in  Daniel  4  ; 
for  it  represents  a  heathen  and  idolatrous  king  as  priv- 
ileged with  visions  from  Jehovah  touching  his  j?€7',9(9naZ 
concerns.  And  the  account  is  found  in  the  most  re- 
liable text,  not  doubted  by  many  who  doubt  about 
the  last  half  of  the  book.  It  is  genuine  and  historic. 
An  enthusiastic  Jew  would  as  soon  think  of  commit- 
ting suicide  as  of  fabricating  a  Divine  vision  like  that 
for  a  pagan.  Surely,  if  he  dared  thus  to  symbolize 
the  fall  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  he  would  not  permit 
him  to  sprout  and  live  and  reign  again,  re-established 


SERVE  JAPHETU'S  KINGS.  231 

in  his  kingdom  (verse  36).  That  would  be  acting  as 
insane  as  the  king.  Moreover,  he  would  not  atttict 
him  with  such  2in  u7icommon  disease^  occurring  indeed 
but  very  seldom,  and  making  behef  in  it  as  difficult 
and  less  credible  than  belief  in  the  whole  vision.  Nor 
would  he  set  a  captive  in  Babylon  as  the  chief  minis- 
ter of  affairs  during  Nebuchadnezzar's  incapacity. 
Such  critics  have  considered  only  half  the  case  and  its 
belongings.  The  supernatural  of  Daniel  cannot  be 
explained  away  by  still  more  supernatural  traits  in  Jews 
of  the  second  century  b.c. 

Reading  the  storj'-  of  the  Maccabean  princes  in 
Josephus  inspired  me  with  enthusiastic  admiration 
for  them  many  years  ago.  This  prompts  me  to  say 
that  not  one  of  them,  not  one  of  their  heroic  com- 
panions and  followers,  would  possibly  allow  to  a  con- 
quering king,  who  trampled  down  their  rights  and 
their  religion,  to  be  privileged  with  such  visions  from 
heaven,  as  warned  him  of  his  personal  duty  to  God, 
and  promised  him  a  glorious  restoration  after  a  seven 
years'  penance  !  This  is  unparalleled  in  the  history  of 
the  Jews,  who  would  not  invent  such  things  of 
Antiochus  Epiphanes.  As  I  am  writing  for  intelli- 
gent readers,  1  will  not  weary  them  by  further  re- 
marks. With  the  chapter  open  before  them,  they  will 
see  how  absurd  it  is  to  attribute  the  writing  of  it  to  a 
Jew  in  the  second  century  b.c.  As  every  one  knows 
who  knows  anything  about  this  question,  there  is  no 
pretence  that  it  is  the  work  of  any  one  after  the  year 
150  B.C.  ;  for  then  Daniel  was  done  into  Greek, 
with  some  additions  by  the  translators  and  editors, 
which,  however,  all  Protestant  Christians  reject,  and 


232  JACOB'S  PROPHETS 

reject  for  similar  reasons  which  compel  them  to  receive 
the  contents  of  our  version.  It  was  not  till  seven  hun- 
dred years  after  Daniel  was  sleeping  on  the  banks  of 
Euphrates  that  any  one  is  known  to  have  doubted 
the  authorship  of  his  prophecies,  and  then  it  was 
a  pagan  who  wanted  to  enthrone  Pythagoras  in  his 
place  !  A  cuneiform  copy  may  yet  be  found  which 
shall  confound  all  his  detractors.  It  is  quite  evident 
that  Daniel  was  a  cuneiform  writer  as  well  as  a  He- 
brew prophet,  and  well  read  in  the  literature  of  the 
Euphrates  and  the  Jordan.  For  years  the  chief  min- 
ister of  Nebuchadnezzar,  he  survived  his  death  in  561  ; 
that  of  his  successor.  Evil  Merodach,  in  558  ;  of  Ner- 
gilissar  in  555,  and  of  Belshazzar  in  538,  becoming  a 
prince  councillor  of  the  new  government  under  Darius 
the  Mede  the  same  year,  when,  if  born  in  618,  he  was 
about  eighty.  Such  a  character  was  not  to  be  fabri- 
cated in  three  hundred  years,  nor  his  work  forgotten 
in  Babylonia,  Syria,  or  Judea.  As  well  try  to  invent, 
in  our  day,  a  Lord  Bacon  or  a  Sir  Edward  Coke  for 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth  ;  but  Daniel's  life  and  work 
were  even  more  closely  identified  with  the  govern- 
ment, while  his  voice  and  visions  were  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  court  and  a  light  for  the  Gentiles.  His 
captivity  in  605  to  the  decree  of  restoration  by  Cyrus 
covered  the  seventy  years'  Exile. 

It  is  proper  to  add  the  testimony  of  Josephus  the  Jew 
to  Daniel  the  prophet,  for  he  lived  and  died  a  Jew. 
Even  if  he  exaggerated  or  embellished  his  account  of 
Alexander's  visit  to  Jerusalem,  the  fact  that  he  mentions 
the  prophecy  of  Daniel  as  being  shown  to  Alexander  is 
conclusive  of  Daniel's  prophecy.     And  he  may  have 


SERVE  JAPIIETH'S  KINGS.  233 

used  the  fact  of  that  prophecy  to  give  greater  credit 
to  what  he  said  of  Alexander.  Josephus  was  too  in- 
tent upon  glorifying  his  country  to  seek  support  for 
his  picture  about  Alexander's  visit  in  a  weak  or  worth- 
less frame.  Rather  he  endeavors  to  sustain  what  he 
says  of  the  king — even  upon  the  supposition  that  it  is 
pictorial — by  citing  Daniel,  who  was  well  known  and 
believed.  That  this  item  is  not  mentioned  by  Greeks 
only  suggests  that  the  incident,  occurring  in  Jerusalem 
and  of  local  importance,  in  their  judgment  had  no  in- 
terest for  Greeks.  I  care  not  a  straw  whether  Par- 
menio  questioned  the  king,  or  whether  the  king  saw  a 
vision  at  Dium,  or  in  what  robes  the  priestly  proces- 
sion met  him  ;  the  facts  remain  that  Alexander  visited 
Jerusalem,  pardoned  the  Jews  for  their  disobedience, 
and  conferred  upon  them  the  privileges  allowed  them 
by  the  Persians  ;  also  that  Josephus,  writing  of  this  in 
the  first  century  a.d.,  says  that  the  Book  of  Daniel 
was  shown  to  Alexander  as  containing  predictions  re- 
specting the  King  of  Greece  !  This  certifies  that 
Josephus  and  those  for  whom  he  wrote  knew  of  and 
recognized  the  ancient  authority  of  Daniel.  It  is  the 
inevitable  conclusion  from  the  narrative — viz.,  the  ex- 
istence of  DanieVs  prophecies  in  the  year  332  b.c. 
Josephus's  ^'  Antiquities,"  Book  10,  10  and  11  ;  P. 
Smith's  '' Ancient  History  of  the  World,"  vol.  ii., 
pp.  60,  61  ;  Justin  Martyr  and  Origen  also  confirm 
the  belief  in  the  early  existence  of  Daniel's  book. 

7.  Consider  what  modern  discoveries  have  done  for 
Isaiah  20  :  1  :  '''  Sargon.,  the  King  of  Assyria,  sent 
Tartan  to  Ashdod,  and  fought  against  it,  and  took  it  " 
— a  time-mark  of  the  prediction  in  that  chapter.     Yet 


234  JACOB'S  PROPHETS 

tlie  world  was  troubled  and  puzzled  at  it  for  two  thou- 
sand years,  for  want  of  the  brick-knowledge  which  the 
discoveries  at  Nineveh  have  supplied  in  our  genera- 
tion. Sargon  was  one  of  the  most  famous  of  Assyrian 
kings  from  722  to  705  b.  c.  — about  seven  ten  years.  Yet 
the  mention  of  his  name  by  Isaiah  was  objected  to  by 
doubting  critics  as  an  error  of  the  prophet  !  He  was 
the  shuttlecock  of  historians  and  expositors ;  now 
confounded  with  Shalmaneser  IV.,  whom  he  slew; 
now,  with  Sennacherib,  who  was  liis  son  ;  and  then 
doubted  whether  read  out  of  or  into  the  inscriptions  ! 
Even  as  late  as  1845,  Dr.  Kitto  thought  there  was  such 
a  king  who  had  reigned  two  or  three  years  ;  altogether 
presenting  a  striking  illustration  of  current  objections 
to  our  Daniel,  and  a  similar  exhibition  of  learned 
guesses  touching  Isaiah  and  Sargon.  Wherefore  that 
old  usurper  and  warrior  king  had  to  wait  two  millen- 
niums before  he  was  recognized  as  the  most  powerful 
monarch  of  the  world  during  seventeen  of  the  last 
years  of  the  eighth  century  b.c.  It  was  he  who  cap- 
tured Samaria,  finishing  the  siege  which  Shalmaneser 
lY.  had  begun,  and  carried  the  Ten  Tribes  into  As- 
syria and  Babylonia,  which  he  subjugated.  His  ''  An- 
nals," written  under  his  direction,  occupy  forty  pages 
in  the  translation  made  in  1876.  They  tell  how  he 
plundered  the  country  and  house  of  Omri — Omri  be- 
ing the  Assyrian  designation  for  the  King  of  Israel, 
which  was  continued  in  use  two  centuries  after  the  ex- 
tirpation of  that  dynasty,  and  is  incorrect  ;  how  he 
routed  the  king  of  the  Moschians,  overpowered  Egypt, 
treated  the  King  of  Gaza  like  a  slave  ;  the  great  Phoe- 
nicia, Syria  in  its  totality,  cities  of  remote  Media,  he 


SERVE  JAPUETH'S  KINGS.  235 

made  tributary,  and  forced  under  his  authority.  From 
Samaria  he  took  27,280  captives,  50  chariots,  and 
mucli  other  booty.  He  exi)elled  Merodach-Baladan 
from  Babylon,  and  immediately  immolated  the  ex- 
piating victims  to  the  great  gods,  leaving  that  city  in 
the  thirteenth  year  of  his  reign,  and  capturing  the 
ensigns  of  royalty,  the  throne  of  his  royalty,  the  golden 
sceptre  ;  .  .  .  oxen,  camels,  sheep,  and  lambs  were 
taken.  He  carried  off  80,570  men,  2070  horses,  700 
donkeys,  6054  camels,  30,000  instruments  of  gold,  etc. 
Sippara,  Nipur,  Babylon,  Borsippa,  he  did  not  de- 
stroy, but  of  some  places  he  made  a  desolation.  And 
he  closed  the  record  of  his  deeds  with  a  prayer  for 
blessings  upon  himself  and  his  successors,  but  a  curse 
upon  whomsoever  should  alter  his  writings  or  change 
his  name — "  May  Assur,  the  great  god,  exterminate  his 
name  and  his  offspring,  and  never  pardon  his  sin  !" 
The  details  are  translated  in  "  Records  of  the  Past," 
vols.  vii.  and  ix.  But  they  were  unknown  to  Euro- 
peans for  two  thousand  years  ;  not  indeed  changed, 
but  buried  amid  the  ruins  of  his  palace.  His  name 
only  was  found  in  Isaiah  the  prophet,  who  lived  before 
and  after  him.  Emerging  again  into  light  after  that 
long  eclipse,  Sargon  now  elucidates  the  writer  who 
made  him  a  time-mark  of  a  prophecy.  It  was  Sargon 
who  fullilled  the  prediction  in  21  :  16,  that  ''  within 
a  year,  according  to  the  years  of  a  hireling,  and  all 
the  glory  of  Kedar  shall  fail  ;  .  .  .  the  children  of 
Kedar  shall  be  few  ;  for  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel, 
hath  spoken  it."  Now,  within  that  time,  Sargon  in- 
vaded Northern  Arabia,  punished  Kedar  and  its  Tsh- 
maelite  inhabitants,  b.c.    716.     It  was  the  enthrone- 


236  JACOB'S  PROPHETS  SERVE  JAPHETH'S  KINGS. 

ment  of  proplietic  truth.  So  of  the  prophecy  against 
Tyre  (Isa.  23),  and  against  Egypt  in  chapter  30.  The 
Egyptian  party  in  Jerusalem  would  find  no  aid  from 
the  Nile  land  against  Assyria  ;  ''  for  the  tramp  of  her 
soldiers  and  the  roll  of  her  chariot  wheels  were  soon 
heard  in  the  defiles  of  Lebanon  and  in  the  valley  of 
Orontes.  The  nations  which  spake  treason  Sargon 
chastised  and  rendered  obedient.  None  could  save 
the  calf  of  Dan  and  the  Baal  of  Samaria."  For  his 
many  victories  the  king  offered  costly  sacrifices  to  his 
god  in  acknowledgment  of  the  greatness  conferred 
upon  him,  and  for  his  successes.  He  erected  a  mag- 
nificent palace  near  Nineveh,  formed  a  large  library, 
and  placed  in  it  the  narrative  of  his  royal  deeds.  At 
length  he  was  slain  in  his  court,  as  he  had  probably 
slain  his  predecessor,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son 
Sennacherib,  the  foe  of  Hezekiah,  who  was  obliged  to 
retire  from  Jerusalem,  according  to  the  word  of  Isaiah. 
Thus  time  and  Providence  will  solve  all  the  difficulties 
of  prophecy  for  the  nations,  illustrating  how  its  light 
enlightened  the  Gentiles,  and  was  a  progressive  prepa- 
ration for  the  Son  of  God.  If  there  is  any  fact  dem- 
onstrable from  the  history  of  mankind,  it  is  that  Je- 
hovah, the  Elohim  of  Israel,  has  ever  manifested  Him- 
self as  the  God  of  Japheth.  In  Egypt,  in  Palestine, 
in  Syria  and  Ilamath,  in  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  and 
to  the  isles  of  the  sea.  He  who  was  worshipped  in 
Hebrew  tents,  in  the  Tabernacle  and  in  the  Temple, 
has  all  throu^rh  the  a^es  soiis^ht  to  draw  all  men  unto 
Him.     For  them  He  gave  the  Son  of  His  Love. 


X. 


GENERAL  EEVIEW  OF  MATTERS  CONSID-^ 
ERED  m   THIS  BOOK. 

We  have  learned  the  story  of  how  the  Bible  grew 
and  was  written.  We  have  seen  that  the  legislation 
contained  in  the  Pentateuch  existed  for  the  most  part 
before  the  regal  history  ;  that  Hebrew  judges  and 
priests  administered  a  law  and  urged  obedience  to  a 
ritual  which  were  of  recognized  obligation  in  the  two 
centuries  which  preceded  Saul  ;  that  many  precepts 
of  the  code  were  early  incorporated  into  the  national 
literature,  and  continued  to  be  so  used  during  six  hun- 
dred years  ;  that  Hebrew  kings  did  at  the  outset  sub- 
mit to  certain  restrictions  and  limitations  of  royal 
prerogative,  and  with  some  exceptions  continued  such 
submission  to  the  last  days  of  their  history  ;  and  that 
none  of  them  ever  repudiated  the  authority  of  Mosaic 
institutions,  even  when  they  added  to  them,  or  apos- 
tatized from  the  covenant  religion.  Critics  admit  that 
neither  Ahab  nor  Manasseh,  Jezebel  nor  Athaliah  de- 
nied the  authority  of  Moses  and  the  prophets,  even 
when  they  set  up  Baal  instead  of  their  teaching,  or  as 
supplementary  to  it.  Jacob's  Bible  grew  with  his  his- 
tory— psalms,  parables,  proverbs  enriched  his  book. 
The  facts  related  in  Genesis  37  and  42  are  of  such  a 


238  GENERAL  REVIEW. 

personal  character,  tliat  each  one  concerned  must  have 
contributed  his  own  share  in  the  matchless  storj  of 
Joseph,  which,  like  the  blessing  of  Jacob,  no  late 
writer  could  have  composed. 

We  learn  the  religion  of  Abraham  bj  a  careful  study 
of  the  religion  of  Ur,  where  he  long  lived  and  whence 
he  came  to  Haran  and  to  Palestine,  and  that  Joshua 
was  quite  right  in  saying  their  "  fathers  served  other 
gods  beyond  the  river."  Days  of  Passover  and 
Atonement  now  observed  by  the  Jews  are  derived 
from  similar  observances  in  the  time  of  Moses.  Even 
when  the  ritual  varied  the  substance  remained  the 
same.  Micah's  exhortation  to  remember  ''  the  right- 
eous acts  of  Jehovah  from  Shittim  unto  Gilgal,"  in- 
cludes the  memorable  passage  of  the  Jordan,  and 
proves  that  Hebrews  of  the  first  half  of  the  eighth 
century  b.c.  knew  of  and  believed  them.  Yet  some 
critics  who  acknowledge  eighth  and  ninth-century 
prophets  fail  to  see  the  folly  of  putting  the  writings 
of  those  prophets  hefore  the  law  on  whose  existence 
they  depend,  and  without  which  lose  all  their  force. 
Thus  the  life-work  of  Samuel  proves  Moses  ;  so  does 
the  conduct  of  King  Saul  ;  so  does  the  mission  of 
Elijah  to  apostate  Israel.  But  some  forget  the  apos- 
tasy after  Jeroboam,  and  that  she  never  recovered 
from  that  fatal  lapse.  Prophets  threatened  and  re- 
monstrated in  vain. 

To  relegate  the  origin  of  the  Law  to  M4  b.c.  is  to 
ignore  the  veritable  history  of  Israel,  and  to  treat  its 
literature  as  a  forgery.  But  the  great  names  of  some 
who  hold  this  view  gain  disciples  to  their  error,  not 
seeing  that  Church  and  nation  were  alike  disrupted  at 


MATTERS  CONSIDERED.  239 

the  same  time,  from  Jeroboam  to  Aliab.  Some  diffi- 
culties in  chronology  and  some  errors  of  copyists  exist, 
but  there  is  nothing  wliich  disproves  Hebrew  law  in 
the  early  ages — the  law  of  the  Kazarite,  the  law  of 
Jehovah,  and  a  ritual  of  worship,  which  we  trace  back 
from  Ililkiah  to  Samson.  Though  we  have  no  manu- 
scripts of  that  era,  neither  have  we  mss.  of  the  era  444 
B.C.  Nor  have  we  the  original  mss.  of  Homer  and 
Plato,  of  Cicero  and  Caesar.  But  the  uniform  testi- 
mony of  men  who  knew  the  writings,  if  not  the  writ- 
ers, renders  it  impossible  for  us  to  reject  their  works 
as  genuine  productions  of  the  age  which  claimed  them. 
Moses,  indeed,  was  before  Homer,  and  he  was  read 
by  ]3riests,  prophets,  and  kings  many  centuries  before 
he  was  heard  in  the  synagogues  of  post-exilian  Jews. 
Tracing  backward  we  find  that  Roman  writers  prove 
Hebrew  history  after  the  second  century  b.c.  ;  that 
Greek  writers  prove  it  for  the  two  previous  centuries  ; 
that  Persian  and  Babylonian  history  proves  it  for  the 
iifth  and  sixth  century  b.c.  ;  while  Assyrian,  Hittite, 
Moabite,  or  Egyptian  records  prove  it  from  the  sixth 
to  the  fifteenth  century  b.c. 

Moreover,  we  also  learn  that  Jehovah  was  the  God 
they  worshipped  by  a  ritual  observance  and  sacrifices, 
by  Sabbaths  and  holy  days,  and  that  ever  and  anon 
during  this  long  period  they  carefully  obeyed  certain 
laws,  observed  certain  rites,  practised  circumcision, 
kept  the  passover,  regarded  the  mandates  of  prophets 
who  uttered  predictions  now  for  Jacob,  now  for  Japh- 
eth,  in  Palestine  and  in  Exile.  Even  the  first  eight 
verses  of  Zechariah  ninth  chapter  would  be  remark- 
able, if  not  preceded  by  some  still  more  striking  pas- 


240  GENERAL  REVIEW. 

sages  in  Daniel  and  Ezekiel,  in  Jeremiah,  Isaiah,  and 
other  prophets.  So  Hosea  (12  :  3,  4,  9,  12,  13)  proves 
the  patriarchal  history  in  Genesis  and  Exodus  by  the 
facts  which  the  prophet  mentions  in  detail.  Before  his 
birth  Jacob  took  his  brother  by  the  heel  ;  in  his  man- 
hood he  had  power  with  the  angel  of  God  ;  at  Bethel 
he  found  the  Lord  God  of  hosts  in  His  memorial  or 
covenant  name  ;  therefore  his  sons  should  wait  on  God 
continually.  Ephraim  should  remember  the  deliver- 
ance from  Egypt,  and  that  his  riches  were  from  the 
Divine  bounty.  Prophets  and  visions  had  been  multi- 
plied to  secure  the  people's  obedience  to  the  covenant 
of  Sinai  ;  but  Ephraim  had  provoked  the  Lord  most 
bitterly,  therefore  his  blood  should  be  upon  him,  and 
the  reproach  of  Jehovah,  because  he  had  transgressed 
at  Gilgal,  offended  in  Baal,  and  made  idol-gods  ;  his 
men  had  kissed  the  calves  in  sacrifice.  We  count  a 
dozen  historic  facts  in  half  as  many  verses.  Early 
prophets  epitomize  both  history  and  law  for  Israel. 

Modern  history  relates  how  English  kings  and  Par- 
liaments often  resisted  the  imposition  of  Papal  laws 
upon  the  English  people  ;  how  French  and  German 
sovereigns  often  disobeyed  Papal  mandates ;  how 
Hildebrand  failed  in  his  struggles  against  imperial 
power  ;  how  Boniface  VIII.  failed  to  humble  Philip 
lY.  in  a  contest  of  which  the  world  took  notice.  But 
none  of  those  monarchs  ever  suggested  that  the  Church 
of  these  haughty  popes  was  only  a  new  establishment 
of  recent  authority.  Kather  they  were  content  with 
disputing  Papal  claims  to  dominate  civil  affairs.  The 
peoples  ruled  by  Jeroboam  and  Ahab,  Ahaz  and  Man- 
asseh  were  as  numerous  and  as  religious  as  those  of 


MATTERS  CONSIDERED.  241 

the  European  kings  we  have  named  ;  but  while  they 
tried  to  introduce  new  ways  of  worship,  or  new  gods 
to  be  honored,  neither  the  son  of  Nebat  nor  the  son 
of  Omri  ever  excused  his  apostasy  from  the  worship 
of  Jahveh  because  His  worship  was  a  new  thing  in 
Israeh  They  admitted  its  antiquity.  Even  the  most 
reforming  of  Hebrew  prophets  only  demanded  obedi- 
ence to  the  old  covenant  law  of  that  people.  Ezekiel 
reminds  them  of  Noah,  Job,  and  Daniel,  while  Elijah 
and  his  successors  exhorted  them  to  loyalty  to  Jahveh. 
The  Jew  was  assured  by  his  national  teachers  of  the 
ancient  character  of  his  law. 

Without  a  page  of  new  documentary  evidence,  and 
with  many  probabilities  against  them,  some  now  as- 
sume that  because  Ezra  or  some  other  authority  in 
Jerusalem  may  have  made  some  additions  or  adapta- 
tions to  the  old  law  of  Moses  or  to  the  ritual  of  the 
second  temple,  therefore  the  code  itself  and  the  ritual 
are  of  the  date  444  e.g.,  when,  in  fact,  there  was  then 
only  a  republication  of  it.  Just  as  wisely  could  those 
European  kings  have  based  their  resistance  to  Papal 
claims  upon  the  assumption  that  the  Church  of  which 
there  were  popes  was  a  new  thing,  rather  than  that 
their  claims  to  dominate  over  princes  in  civil  affairs  was 
recent.  But  neither  Hebrew  kings  nor  European 
monarchs  made  such  objection  ;  rather  they  acknowl- 
edged the  priority  of  the  Church  in  each  country  to 
themselves.  There  is  surely  no  objection  to  conced- 
ing that  after  the  return  from  Exile  some  supposed 
safeguards  were  added  to  the  Hebrew  law  and  ritual, 
and  that  returned  Jews  became  narrower  and  stricter 
than  their  fathers  ;  but  there  is  every  ol)jection  to  say- 
II 


242  GENERAL  REVIEW. 

ing  that  those  laws  and  that  ritual  had  not  been  long 
observed  in  Israel,  and,  in  fact,  are  found  interwoven 
with  its  history  diVivmg fifteen  hundred  years,  and  are 
certified  to  by  the  prophets.  That  ^'  Jewism  began 
from  that  moment  "  means  nothing.  The  teaching 
of  Ezra  depends  on  that  of  Moses  and  Abraham.  The 
Hebrew  religion  began  with  the  patriarch  some  two 
thousand  years  B.C. 

Wherever  we  find  the  observance  of  any  law  in  Is- 
rael ;  of  the  Sabbath,  of  sacrifice,  of  sin  and  penalty, 
of  the  Nazarite  and  other  vows,  of  witches  and  necro- 
mancy, of  the  removal  of  dead  bodies,  of  ceremonial 
uncleanness,  eating  flesh  with  the  blood,  of  the  place 
where  atonement  was  to  be  made,  laws  about  feasts  and 
fasts,  new  moons  and  first  days,  circumcision  and  Pass- 
over, of  priests,  prophets,  judges,  kings — there  we 
have  proof  that  such  laws  then  existed,  existed  in  the 
era  from  Joshua  to  Saul.  It  is  interwoven  with  the 
history  of  that  period,  and  cannot  be  exscinded  with- 
out fraud  and  violence,  unless  it  can  be  shown  that 
the  records  were  forged,  which  is  impossible.  Not  a 
King  of  Israel  can  be  shown  to  be  mythical  ;  not  a 
recognized  priest  was  without  a  duty  or  an  altar  ;  not 
a  prophet  of  Jahveh  failed  to  deliver  his  message  to 
whom  he  was  sent — Jonah  only  hesitated.  In  Sa- 
maria,  in  Jerusalem,  among  other  nations,  the  Divine 
voice  was  heard  ;  for  there  was  great  occasion  for 
remonstrance,  contrition,  reformation  ;  nobles  and 
people  wandered  from  God.  Yet  the  preparation 
for  a  new  evangel  went  on  in  Palestine  and  in  Exile. 
Perfection  was  not  yet. 

Some  writers  ignore  the  consequences  of  the  Disrup- 


MATTERS  CONSIDERED.  243 

tion  of  the  nation  nnder  Relioboani  upon  tlie  religion  of 
Israel.  Thereafter  Israel  and  Judah  were  as  distinct 
governments  as  Syria  and  Edom,  or  Moaband  Plirenicia. 
They  tell  us  how  '^  priest  and  prophet  reeled  through 
the  influence  of  strong  drink  in  the  very  ministration  of 
their  sacred  offices  !"  So  might  the  priests  of  India  ; 
so  in  Babylon,  Egypt,  Phoenicia,  "  prostitution  was 
throned  upon  the  altars  !"  But  that  had  little  to  do  with 
the  development  of  Hebrew  religion  in  Judea.  In  the 
century  after  Amos,  when  Hezekiah  invited  the  remain- 
ing tribes  after  the  capture  of  Samaria  to  keep  the 
Passover  with  his  people,  they  laughed  at  his  proposal 
to  go  up  to  Jerusalem  to  worship.  They  followed  the 
cultus  of  Bethel  and  Dan.  It  was  all  they  recognized. 
From  Jeroboam  I.  to  Sargon  II.  there  was  no  develop- 
ment of  Jahvism  in  Israel.  At  Bethel,  at  Gilgal, 
transgression  had  not  ceased.  Some  idol  worship  con- 
tinued after  the  capture  of  the  shrines  of  Dan,  and 
longer  yet  was  the  influence  felt  by  the  covenant  peo- 
ple. Kuenen,  Eenan,  and  others  seem  to  forget  that 
the  Disruption  of  Israel  applied  alike  to  the  govern- 
ment and  to  the  Church  of  Jacob.  Her  drunken 
priests  and  prophets  were  those  of  Baal,  not  of  Jah- 
veli,  and  though  dent>unced  by  Amos,  he  sought  to 
bring  them  back  to  covenant  loyalty.  "  The  nation, 
as  a  whole,  was  recreant."  They  did  not  go  up  to 
the  tem2:>le  at  Jerusalem,  and  unless  they  repented  as 
a  nation  and  returned  to  Jahveh,  He  would  avenge 
His  cause  by  the  Assyrians  carrying  them  captive. 
But  Judah  had  not  wandered  so  far  and  so  long  from 
her  covenant  God.  If  ''  Amos  was  the  first  to  preach 
the  principles  of  pure  ethical  monotheism^''  to  the  Ten 


244  GENERAL  REVIEW. 

Tribes  after  their  separation,  it  does  not  follow  that  a 
similar  ethical  monotheism  did  not  prevail  in  Jiidah 
nor  under  David  and  the  early  years  of  Solomon,  nor 
when  Samuel  administered  affairs  in  his  annual  cir- 
cuits from  Ramah  to  Gilgal  and  Mizpeh.  The 
prophets  must  not  be  severed  from  the  local  history  of 
their  times.  During  two  hundred  and  fifty  years 
those  of  the  northern  kingdom  had  to  struggle  against 
the  sin  of  Jeroboam,  to  which  was  added  the  sin  of 
Aliab  and  Jezebel  ;  but  in  the  southern  kingdom  Jah- 
vism  more  generally  prevailed,  and  the  people  went  up 
to  Jerusalem  at  the  great  feasts  to  sacrifice  and  wor- 
ship. Neither  so  far  nor  so  long  did  they  wander 
from  the  temple-service.  But  we  are  told  that  Ahab 
did  not  mean  to  apostatize  from  Jehovah  worship  ! 
It  is  difficult  to  see  that  he  ever  was  a  Jahvist.  He 
was  in  succession  from  Jeroboam  in  Israel,  who  had 
made  as  radical  a  revolution  in  the  religion  as  in  the 
government  of  the  country.  He  apostatized  from  the 
temple  worship  ;  would  not  allow  his  people  to  attend 
the  feasts  at  Jerusalem  ;  set  up  calf  shrines  at  Bethel 
and  at  Dan,  which  were  served  by  priests  from  the 
lowest  of  the  people.  The  priests  of  the  Law  and  the 
Temple  would  not  serve  him,  for  he  had  become  a 
separatist  and  an  apostate.  So  were  his  successors, 
from  Nadab,  his  son,  to  Iloshea,  who  was  carried  cap- 
tive in  Y21  B.C.  Prophets  of  the  ninth  century  had 
failed  with  Ahab  ;  prophets  of  the  eighth  century 
failed  with  the  successors  of  Jehu.  Prince  and  peo- 
ple were  incorrigible.  It  is  a  perversion  of  history  to 
give  a  different  setting  to  these  facts.  From  liehoboam 
to  Sargon  II.  there  was  no  true  development  of  the- 


MATTERS  CONSIDERED.  245 

ology  in  Israel.  Aliab  was  but  one  of  a  series  of 
apostate  kings,  whom  neither  tiie  warnings  of  prophets 
nor  the  preaching  of  the  Law  of  the  Lord  could  long 
restrain  from  following  the  rival  cult  set  up  by  Jero- 
boam, chiefly  in  order  to  keep  his  new  subjects  from 
worship  at  the  Jerusalem  temple.  The  priests  of  Baal 
were  slain  by  the  hundred,  and  the  prophets  of  the 
Asherah,  but  soon  others  took  their  places  ;  for  the 
king  would  not  risk  his  people  attending  the  sanctuary 
of  his  rival  in  Judah.  It  is  this,  and  not  the  develop- 
ment of  a  new  theology,  which  is  the  key  to  the 
prophecies  of  Amos  and  others  of  his  era.  Theirs  was 
a  last  effort  to  bring  back  apostate  Israel  to  the  God 
of  Jacob.  Only  in  Judah  was  there  any  true  temple 
or  altar  of  sacrifice.  But  to  that,  after  the  Disruption, 
the  Ten  Tribes  did  not  return.  The  sword  of  Jehu  did 
not  exscind  the  calf  worship  of  Samaria.  Hence  that 
baptism  of  blood  was  followed  by  deportation  of  Israel 
to  Assyria,  and  of  Judah  to  Babylonia. 

The  Hebrews  were  not  chosen  to  be  the  most  illus- 
trious and  powerful  nation  under  heaven,  but  to  be 
conservators  and  disseminators  of  true  religion  among 
men,  now  here,  now  there,  a  light  to  lighten  the  Gen- 
tiles in  preparation  for  that  Light  who  should  illumine 
the  darkened  hearts  of  mankind.  But  the  prophetic 
mission  closed  with  the  return  from  Exile.  Thenceforth 
it  was  waiting  time.  From  Malachi  to  John  Baptist 
no  new  truth  of  God  was  given  to  men,  leaving  the 
old  to  leaven  and  permeate  the  world.  And  as  there 
was  no  new  prophet  to  authenticate  Scripture,  so  no 
new  book  was  admitted  to  the  Sacred  Canon.  It  is  in 
evidence  that  Daniel  was  already  enrolled  into  Jacob's 


246  GENERAL  REVIEW. 

Bible.  He  could  not  have  been  accepted  for  transla- 
tion into  Greek,  unless  lie  had  been  authorized  by  a 
prophet  before  the  order  ceased.  The  necessity  of 
prophetic  endorsement  of  a  sacred  book  ruled  out 
Sirach  and  1  Maccabees,  and  it  would  have  excluded 
Daniel  if  he  had  not  already  been  admitted  to  the 
Sacred  Canon.  Hence  it  is  really  more  difficult  to  ac- 
cept a  second-century  writer  of  Daniel  than  the  re- 
ceived Daniel  of  the  sixth  century  e.g.  Ezra  presents 
the  same  objection  of  being  written  in  two  languages, 
and  there  is  a  similarity  with  Ezekiel,  yet  the  personal 
independence  of  these  three  writers  remains  intact. 

It  is  an  honor  to  American  scholarship  that  M. 
Stuart,  in  1850,  thoroughly  refuted  the  criticisms  of 
Lengerke  and  Knobel.  Daniel's  Hebrew  in  2  :  4  to 
the  end  of  chapter  Y  resembles  that  of  the  golden 
age  ;  he  is  always  himself,  now  writing  like  an  adept 
in  Hebrew  upon  Plebrew  matters,  and  now  like  a 
Babylonian  in  the  Chaldean  parts.  In  each  the  style 
is  equally  perfect.  Grounded  in  his  native  tongue  in 
his  boyhood,  his  education  as  a  youth  in  Babylon  en- 
abled him  thoroughly  to  master  its  language,  so  that 
he  could  pass  from  one  to  the  other  with  the  ease  of 
modern  Germans  and  French  resident  upon  the  border- 
lands of  those  nations  in  speaking  those  tongues. 
'^  The  Greek  liistorians, "  says  Stuart,  ''  do  not  men- 
tion Nebuchadnezzar  as  King  of  Babylon  !"  Was  he 
therefore  not  a  king  there  ?  Josephus  on  such  points 
is  a  better  authority  ;  and  he  says  that  Daniel  8  :  3-7 
and  11  :  2,  3  wxre  shown  to  Alexander  the  Great,  and 
produced  a  favorable  impression  upon  him.  His  anger 
for  the  Jews  not  sending  him  the  aid  he  asked  and 


MATTERS  CONSIDERED.  247 

for  not  submitting  to  his  authority  was  appeased.  Ho 
forgave  them,  renewed  their  privileges  granted  by  the 
Persians,  and  kindly  treated  them.  This  was  in  332 
B.C.  It  establishes  the  date  of  the  prophet  as  before 
that  time.  Justin  Martyr  corroborates  Josephus. 
(Stuart^s  "  Daniel,- ^  pp.  380-408  ;  1  Ifacc.  2  :  59,  60.) 
In  his  ^'  Address  to  the  Greeks"  Justin  shows 
the  antiquity  of  Moses's  writings  ;  his  divine  and  pro- 
phetic gift  ;  that  the  heathen  oracles  testify  of  him, 
and  that  his  works  were  early  translated  into  Greek 
and  written  in  the  Greek  character  (chs.  9-13).  In 
his  "  Dialogue  with  Trypho"  he  testifies  of  Isaiah  and 
Jeremiah  as  quoting  from  Moses.  In  chaj^ter  70  he 
shows  that  priests  of  Mithras  imitated  some  of  the  text 
of  Daniel  2i^  well  as  Isaiah  33  :  13-19.  His  critical 
acumen  is  seen  in  his  charging  the  Jews  with  recently 
^'  cutting  out  some  passages  in  Jeremiah  and  Esdras  " 
(ch.  72).  And  in  his  "  Apology"  (ch.  54)  he  says, 
"  The  prophet  Moses  was  before  all  other  writers. 
Even  Plato  borrowed  from  the  Hebrews."  As  Justin 
was  a  converted  Greek,  a  man  of  vast  learning,  who 
addressed  a  long  epistle  to  the  emperor  in  defence  of 
Christianity,  and  suffered  martyrdom  for  the  faith  in 
1G5  A.D.,  his  testimony  is  of  great  weight.  He  flour- 
ished a  century  and  a  half  before  Porphyry,  and  knew 
the  authority  of  Daniel's  prophecies.  Only  a  little 
later  Origen  collated  them  in  his  famous  "  Hexapla." 
"  The  merits  of  Daniel,"  sa^^s  Josephus,  ''  must  ex- 
cite the  w^onder  of  all  who  hear  of  them."  And  Jo- 
sephus was  a  thoroughly  educated  Hebrew,  who  had  no 
Christian  bias  to  prejudice  him.  Antiochus  Epiphanes 
sought   to  destroy  every  copy  of  the  Jewish  Scrip- 


248  GENERAL  REVIEW. 

tures,  and  punished  with  death  those  who  concealed 
them. 

No  one  well  read  in  history  would  compare  Nebu- 
chadnezzar with  that  mad  persecutor  of  the  Jews. 
Except  in  the  matter  of  conquest  and  pillage,  there  are 
no  analogies  between  them.  To  mistake  one  king  for 
the  other,  or  to  identify  them  as  equally  hostile  against 
the  Jews,  betrays  an  ignorance  very  uncomplimentary 
to  the  writer.  No  Hebrew  would  lack  the  skill,  even 
if  he  lacked  the  courage,  to  detect  and  explode  such  a 
misconception  of  history  in  the  second  century  b.c. 
Moreover,  the  Jews  then  were  zealous  and  very  strict, 
even  fanatical  in  their  ideas  of  religion.  The  Mac- 
cabean  fought  for  his  Church  and  his  home  against 
oppression.  Nebuchadnezzar  did  not  persecute  in 
efforts  to  foist  his  creed  upon  others.  The  order 
touching  the  golden  image  was  but  a  local  and  tem- 
porary injunction.  No  penalty  came  to  Daniel  ;  his 
three  friends  were  officers,  punished  for  disobedience. 
Alexander  the  Great  worshipped  in  the  same  temple 
which  Antiochus  desecrated  in  ways  the  most  revolt- 
ing to  a  Jew.  No  wonder  at  the  resistance  and  storms 
of  war  which  followed  ;  stubborn  rebellions  and  cruel 
usurpations  ;  till  down  went  Pan  and  his  pipers  ;  up 
went  pseans  and  chants  to  Jehovah.  Then  came 
peace,  and  the  temple  of  Janus  was  shut. 

The  stone  of  the  old  altar  at  Bethel  was  said  to  have 
been  removed  to  Jerusalem,  where  it  became  the  ped- 
estal of  the  Ark,  fit  emblem  of  the  conservation  and 
perpetuity  of  truth.  However  that  may  be,  it  is  cer- 
tain that  the  God  of  Bethel  revealed  Himself  at  Zion, 
and  fulfilled  His  promise  in  the  birth  of  One  who 


MATTERS  CONSIDERED.  249 

crushed  the  serpent,  broke  in  pieces  the  images  of 
false  deities,  and  became  the  Saviour  of  men,  "  wher- 
ever the  earth  bears  a  plant  or  the  ocean  rolls  a  wave." 
He  has  verified  the  Kevelation  in  Genesis,  accomplished 
the  Exodus,  fulfilled  Numbers,  superseded  the  priests 
of  Leviticus,  perfected  and  amended  Deuteronomy  by 
the  new  law  of  Christianity,  and  proved  Himself  the 
Joshua  of  all  believers  by  opening  the  way  to  a  heav- 
enly inheritance.  From  Eden  to  Sinai,  to  Calvary,  to 
Olivet,  one  voice  was  ever  speaking  toman  ;  one  God 
w^atched  over  him  from  heaven.  Abraham  circum- 
cised all  who  would  receive  the  rite  ;  it  was  renewed 
at  Gilgal  ;  looking  upon  the  brazen  serpent  gave 
healing  to  wounded  Israelites  ;  even  so  shall  all  who 
look  to  Jesus  and  believe  in  Him  be  saved,  whether 
of  the  seed  of  Jacob  or  of  Japheth.  (See  "  God  En- 
throned  in  Redemption,"  chapters  4  and  5.) 

But  Panism  and  Pyrrhonism  now  ignore  the  founda- 
tions of  true  religion,  and  would  decide  biblical  texts 
and  interpretation  by  a  majority  vote  of  persons  igno- 
rant of  monumental  discoveries.  Because  some  critics 
in  Germany,  in  France,  and  their  "  captives"  in  Eng- 
land, adopt  erroneous  views  of  the  dates  and  purposes 
of  Scripture,  why  would  you  have  us  fall  in  their  line 
and  surrender  our  judgments  ?  We  dare  not  do  so. 
It  is  hardly  a  century  since  the  French  National  As- 
sembly (September,  1792)  abolished  the  Sunday  or 
Sabbath  of  six  thousand  years'  observance,  and  in  its 
place  enacted  a  Tenth-day  as  the  ''  Rest-day"  of  the 
people  ;  with  five  other  holidays  in  the  year,  or  a  total 
of  seventeen  days  for  rest  from  ordinary  labor  ;  poor 
substitute  of  man  for  God's  gift  of  fifty-two  Sabbaths 
11* 


250  GENERAL  REVIEW. 

a  year  !  Bj  so  much  less  is  human  generosity  when 
compared  with  the  Divine  bounty.  And  a  woman 
of  loose  morals  was  enthroned  as  a  goddess,  to  be 
worshipped  by  those  new  Reformers  !  As  might  be 
expected,  that  change  of  calendar  was  tolerated  but  a 
short  time,  and  in  twelve  years  plus  three  months  the 
government  returned  to  the  old-time  Sabbath  order, 
January  1st,  1806.  (See  Carlyle's  "  French  Revohi- 
tion.")  The  votes  of  a  majority  cannot  change  the 
nature  and  needs  of  mankind,  nor  abolish  the  facts  of 
ancient  history. 

True,  Charles  I.  lost  his  head  by  a  majority  vote, 
and  Cromwell  vaulted  into  his  place  ;  but  other  votes 
and  voices  within  a  dozen  years  called  another  Charles 
to  the  throne  of  England.  The  Prayer  book,  rejected 
by  one  set  of  voters,  was  re-established  by  another 
set,  and  the  old  Church  returned  to  her  old  place. 
Missals  and  liturgies  may  be  enacted  by  votes  ;  but  no 
votes  ever  provided  an  atonement  for  sin,  or  gave  the 
world  a  revelation,  or  opened  the  door  to  everlasting 
blessedness. 

Moreover,  some  modern  voters  forget  that  they  can- 
not expunge  the  records  of  human  thought  which  lie 
buried  in  the  ruins  of  Assyria  and  Babylonia,  or  are 
inscribed  in  the  tombs  and  on  the  monuments  of 
Egypt.  Even  now  those  treasures  are  being  deci- 
phered, and  flash  new  light  upon  some  dark  questions. 
They  corroborate  Genesis  and  Moses,  the  history  and 
prophets  of  Israel ;  they  bid  us  not  interpret  his  writ- 
ings by  modern  notions,  but  by  contemporary  records 
where  such  exist,  and  to  wait  for  other  unfoldings  of 
buried  scrolls  which  may  supply  all  the  aids  we  require 


MATTERS  CONSIDERED.  251 

to  read  and  understand  the  heritage  of  the  ages  and 
the  disclosures  of  God  to  man.  No  ;  the  pillars  of 
monumental  knowledge  cannot  be  shaken  by  guesses 
of  to-day.  Inscriptions  are  older  than  mss.,  and  may 
outlast  them.  Moses  and  Mesha  speak  louder  than 
modern  assemblies. 

Fantastic  is  the  dogmatism  which  would  fix  abso- 
lutely 165  B.C.  as  the  date  of  Daniel— so  Mrs.  Ward 
in  the  Nineteenth  Century  for  March,  1889 — even 
while  a  party  of  explorers  in  the  region  of  his  exile 
may  find  jars  of  tablets  containing  an  original  copy  of 
the  book  !  Neither  our  preferences  nor  our  preju- 
dices should  attempt  to  settle  by  a  majority  vote  ques- 
tions of  fact,  especially  the  facts  of  ancient  history. 
Its  records  cannot  be  disposed  of  or  dispensed  with  in 
that  way.  The  method  was  tried  upon  Homer,  but 
the  excavations  of  the  spade  have  been  turned  upon, 
and  buried  those  who  denied  him  an  early  place  in 
Grecian  song  and  civilization.  Nor  is  it  long  since 
German  critics  flouted  his  personality.  So  with  He- 
brew and  Christian  writings.  Few  linguists  are  good 
historians  ;  speciab'sts  are  usually  as  narrow  as  they  are 
positive.  Critics  may  try  to  eliminate  and  explain 
away  an  author,  but  they  neither  make  him  nor  de- 
stroy him.  The  Creator  reserves  that  to  Himself,  for 
Jacob  and  for  Japheth.  Wonderful  as  was  the  origin 
of  the  Bible,  its  history  and  preservation  are  equally 
remarkable.  Everywhere  hunted,  proscribed,  burned, 
it  is  everywhere  found  and  read  of  all  nations.  We  can- 
not be  more  sure  of  the  contents  of  Homer's  Ihad 
than  of  the  contents  and  books  of  the  Old  Testament. 
The  authority  of  Herodotus  touching  Egypt  and  the 


252  OENEBAL  REVIEW. 

East  is  now  past ;  but  the  absolute  credibility  of  the 
Old  Testament  is  daily  illustrated  and  confirmed.  The 
Jews  could  truly  say,  We  have  a  very  sure  word  of 
prophecy.  Fropliets  and  priests  authenticated  and 
guarded  the  Sacred  Books,  and  were  expounders  of 
them.  If  seers  of  the  ninth  century  b.c.  did  not  record 
their  utterances,  others  took  pains  to  write  them  out. 
Hence  were  preserved  the  doings  and  sayings  of  Eli- 
jah, Micaiah,  Elisha,  and  others  of  that  era  in  the 
nation's  history,  constituting  a  large  part  of  it.  The 
prophetic  and  Messianic  matters  form  the  greater  part 
of  the  later  Bible.  In  444  b.c.  the  whole  then  known 
seems  to  have  been  authenticated  and  republished  by 
authority,  and  could  be  tested  by  the  memories  of  in- 
telligent men.  The  history  discloses  that  it  was  easier 
for  books  to  be  lost  than  for  supposititious  writings  to 
be  received  as  genuine. 

When  the  order  of  prophets  ceased,  men  of  the  great 
synagogue  guarded  and  certified  to  the  Law,  the 
Prophets,  and  the  Psalms,  which  were  read  to  the  peo- 
ple every  Sabbath  ;  and  Scribes  performed  the  duty 
of  writing  out  copies  for  use  and  preservation.  More- 
over, the  Samaritan  Pentateuch,  the  jealousies  of  the 
different  sects — Pharisees,  Sadducees,  Essenes— served 
for  four  hundred  years  like  so  many  watchmen  as  cus- 
todians of  the  Mss.  and  their  interpretation.  Then 
the  translation  of  the  Hebrew  books  into  Greek,  com- 
pleted by  160  B.C.,  is  further  guarantee  against  errors, 
and  rendered  them  more  difficult.  Of  course,  some 
verbal  variations  would  occur  in  the  passage  of  gener- 
ations, but  there  was  too  much  jealous  care  for  serious 
errors.  No  other  ancient  books  are  more  pure  and 
true  to  the  original. 


MATTERS  CONSIDERED.  253 

The  connection  and  relation  of  events  in  the  later 
records  emphasize  the  proplietic  writings,  their  accu- 
racy and  value.  For  six  hundred  years  Hebrew  kings 
reigned,  but  the  prophets  ever  illumined  the  fore- 
ground of  the  historic  scene,  exhorting  the  sinners  in 
Israel  and  Judah  to  truth  and  righteousness.  Thus 
Elijah  became  more  famous  than  apostate  Ahab  ; 
Isaiah  sheds  more  lustre  upon  his  king  than  Ilezekiali 
does  upon  his  prophet  and  prime-minister.  A  hun- 
dred readers  remember  the  character  and  predictions 
of  Jeremiah  to  one  who  can  recall  the  death  of  Josiah 
at  Megiddo.  Illustrious  as  was  Nebuchadnezzar  as 
conqueror  and  builder,  Daniel  of  the  captivity  has  in- 
creased his  renown.  And  our  Lord  authenticated  that 
prophet  for  ns  and,  in  a  sense,  all  the  prophets.  Even 
the  fanaticism  of  second-century  Jews  proved  their 
scrupulosity  about  the  Scriptures,  and  illustrated  their 
discrimination  touching  Hebrew  literature.  They 
could  not  be  imposed  upon  by  a  Greek  writer.  They 
admitted  no  Greek  book  into  their  Sacred  Canon. 
That  the  sceptre  should  not  depart  from  Judah  till 
Messiah  came  led  to  careful  inquiry  among  those  who 
cherished  expectations  of  Him,  and  to  earnest  longings 
for  His  appearance.  Many  mothers  fondly  hoped  to 
become  the  honored  and  favored  one,  the  blessed  among 
women,  for  giving  the  Redeemer  to  Israel.  Jews  in 
Palestine  and  in  colonies  among  the  Gentiles  could  not 
forget  the  predictions  of  Micah  nor  the  last  verses  of 
Malachi.  Their  misunderstanding  of  Messianic 
prophecies  may  have  narrowed  their  ideas  of  religion 
in  Jerusalem,  but  they  also  intensified  their  convictions. 
They  indeed  thought,  "  Salvation  is  of  the  Jews,"  and 


254  GENERAL  REVIEW. 

often  limited  it  to  them  ;  but  they  looked  for  it  with 
confident  assurance.  Yet  their  hiter  intolerance,  if 
such  it  were,  could  not  hide  the  Light  of  Him  and  of 
His  Gospel,  who  came  to  save  both  Jew  and  Gentile. 
Remarkable  is  the  fulfilment  of  Isaiah's  prophecy 
(19  :  19),  ^'  There  shall  be  an  altar  to  Jehovah  in  the 
midst  of  the  land  of  Egypt."  Joseplius,  in  his  "  An- 
tiquities" (Book  13,  chs.  3  and  4),  narrates  the  build- 
ing of  a  temple  at  Bubastis,  in  the  nome  Heliopolis, 
like  that  at  Jerusalem,  with  an  altar  to  Jehovah,  but 
smaller  and  poorer  than  that,  and  tells  how  a  Jerusa- 
lem priest  celebrated  the  worship  of  the  Hebrews'  God 
in  that  Egyptian  temple.  It  furnishes  a  memorable 
fulfilment  of  the  prophecy.  In  the  "  Wars,"  Book 
6,  chapter  3,  section  3-5,  he  says,  "  The  people  ate 
what  the  dogs  would  not  touch,  even  girdles  and  shoe- 
leather,  which  is  testified  to  by  innumerable  witnesses. 
Nay,  a  woman  of  wealth  and  family  was  so  terribly 
reduced  by  famine  that  she  slew  her  nursing  son, 
roasted  him  in  an  oven,  and  ate  one  half  herself,  and 
concealed  the  other  half.  The  brutal  robbers  who 
had  plundered  her  of  all  she  possessed  were  attracted 
by  the  smell  of  food,  and  returned  to  get  what  they 
could  find.  The  lady  then  produced  the  remainder 
of  her  hidden  son,  saying  ''  she  had  eaten  the  other 
part,  and  they  might  eat  this  !"  They  were  too  hor- 
rified to  touch  it,  and  departed.  Thus  literally  was 
fulfilled  Leviticus  26  :  29  ;  Deuteronomy  28  :  49-57, 
in  the  terrible  famine  durino^  the  sieore  of  the  Romans 
under  Titus.  No  Jew  after  the  Exile  would  have 
written  such  prophetic  cannibalism  into  the  Penta- 
teuch, and  no  Jew  like  Joseplius  would  have  invented 


MATTERS  CONSIDERED.  255 

its  fulfilment.  Both  alike  prove  its  truthfulness. 
Thus  Jacob's  Bible  is  authenticated  by  Jacob's  history, 
as  written  by  his  sons  and  by  the  sons  of  Japheth. 

Very  touching  is  the  prayer  of  Esdras,  "  Where- 
fore, O  Lord,  is  Israel  given  as  a  reproach  to  the 
heathen,  and  for  what  cause  is  the  people  whom  Thou 
hast  loved  given  over  unto  ungodly  nations,  and  why 
the  Law  of  our  forefathers  is  brou^^ht  to  nauoht,  and 
the  written  covenants  come  to  none  effect,  .  .  .  and 
our  life  is  astonishment  and  fear,  and  we  are  not 
worthy  to  obtain  mercy?"  St.  Paul  answers  him: 
That  Israel  had  fallen  for  a  time,  for  the  saving  of  the 
Gentiles  ;  that  all,  both  Jews  and  Gentiles,  Semites 
and  Aryans,  may  be  saved  (Romans,  ch.  11).  It  was 
the  Divine  purpose  in  the  calling  of  Abraham,  in  the 
legislation  of  Moses,  and  in  the  voicings  of  later  pro- 
phets. 

I  have  endeavored  in  this  book  upon  ''  Bible  Growth 
and  Religion"  to  illustrate  and  establish  the  truth  of 
Revelation,  answering  those  current  objections  which 
strike  at  its  origin  and  authority,  especially  those  of 
the  naturalistic  school  ;  and  I  have  purposely  empha- 
sized the  grand  fact  of  inspiration  rather  than  the 
mode  of  communication. 

Those  who  want  a  brief  "  Introduction  to  the  Books 
of  the  Old  Testament  "  will  find  it  in  Dr.  Stearns's 
recent  work,  in  any  good  Bible  Dictionary,  or  in  the 
Manuals  published  by  Mr.  Whittaker,  New  York. 

May  the  Holy  Spirit  give  life  to  the  words  and 
conviction  to  the  readers,  that  we  all  may  rejoice  to- 
gether with  IIiM  ! 


NEW    NOTICES     BY    THE    PRESS    OF    '*  GOD    IN   CREA- 
TION" AND  "GOD  ENTHRONED   IN  REDEMPTION." 

The  New  York  Evangelist  said  :  "Some  months  ago  we  had  the 
pleasure  of  noticing  '  God  Enthroned  in  Redemption,'  which  was 
the  second  part  of  a  work  of  which  the  first  part  had  appeared 
under  the  title,  '  God  in  Creation  and  in  Worship.'  Between  the 
two  editions  a  book  appeared  containing  statements  which,  with- 
out proof,  tend  to  weaken  the  foundations  of  the  author's  argu- 
ment. A  new  introduction  was  written,  showing  the  baselessness 
of  some  of  '  Squire  Wendover's '  statements,  and  the  inadequacy 
of  the  results  reached  by  him.  It  goes  carefully  over  the  question 
of  the  testimony  of  history  to  revelation,  which  forms  the  basis  of 
the  book,  showing  triumphantly  that  no  fair-minded  seeker  after 
truth  can  be  indifferent  to '  the  historical  impressions  of  an  eternal 
tendency  in  men.'  This  was  also  printed  in  pamphlet  form,  serv- 
ing a  good  purpose,  both  in  setting  the  book  to  which  it  belongs 
upon  a  firm  basis,  and  counteracting  the  harmful  tendencies  in 
others." 

The  Standard  of  the  Gross  and  the  Church  said  :  '' '  God  in  Crea- 
tion '  and  '  God  Enthroned  in  Redemption  '  deserves  careful  read- 
ing. The  author  gives  no  clew  to  his  identity,  but  he  need  not 
conceal  it,  or  be  ashamed  of  his  work.  He  argues  for  the  original 
belief  in  monotheism,  and  strongly  combats  the  assumptions  of 
Herbert  Spencer  on  this  point.  The  neglect  of  historic  evidence 
by  sceptical  theorists  is  dwelt  upon,  the  latest  discoveries  of 
archaeology  are  summarized,  and  the  general  purport  of  the  work 
may  be  gleaned  from  the  preface  ;  that  God  originally  taught  men 
how  to  live,  and  how  to  prepare  for  a  future  life,  was  the  belief  of 
the  first  ages.  It  is  attested  by  Hebrew  Scripture,  by  the  monu- 
ments of  Egypt,  by  the  inscriptions  and  religion  of  Assyria  and 
Babylonia. ' ' 

The  Living  Church  said  :  "  Incompact  form,  with  ever}' evidence 
of  the  erudition  needful  to  the  task,  and  with  keenness  and  good 
spirit,  the  author  disproves  prevalent  naturalistic  theories.  He 
shows  where  Mr.  Spencer  is  at  fault  historically,  and  where  he  has 
ventured  upon  false  inferences,  even  from  correct  historic  state- 
ments. We  lay  the  book  down  with  the  conviction  that  it  was  well 
worth  the  author's  while  to  write  out  his  views  upon  the  subjects 


treated  and  to  give  them  to  the  Christian  world.  Part  first  contains 
Christianity  not  Evolved  from  Ghosts  and  Hero-worship,  God  in 
Creation  and  in  Worship,  Legends  about  God  and  Creation,  Le- 
gends about  Satan  and  Evil  Spirits,  Deluge  Legends  and  Pagan 
Deification,  with  an  examination  of  the  testimony  of  Tacitus,  of 
Tertullian's  Apology,  asserting  the  proposition  of  Tiberius  to  the 
Roman  Senate  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  should  be  enrolled  among 
the  gods  of  the  empire." 

Of  the  First  Part,  The  Christian  at  Work  said:  "It  is  a  well- 
written,  interesting,  and  forcible  argument.  The  inscriptions  of 
Babylon  and  Nineveh  and  the  records  of  old  Egypt  are  found  to 
corroborate  the  accounts  of  Moses.' ' 

The  Old  Ttsiameni  Student  calls  it  *'  a  vigorous  book  against  the 
theory  of  worship  and  religious  belief  being  an  evolution  from 
burial  rites.  These  customs  give  no  account  of  themselves  in  the 
most  ancient  times.  Records  inform  us  that  temples  were  erected 
long  before  tombs.  Nimrod  was  the  first  recognized  hero.  The 
oldest  piece  of  literature  in  the  world  is  a  hymn  to  the  Maker  of 
Heaven  and  Earth.  Herbert  Spencer  has  even  perverted  the  text 
of  Scripture.  Along  a  line  of  cumulative  reasoning  our  author 
has  marshalled  an  abundance  of  interesting  citation  and  historic 
illustrations,  the  book  being  a  good  source  of  information." 

The  Home  Journal  said  :  "  The  author  maintains  that  the  doc- 
trine of  One  God  is  older  than  belief  in  many  gods  ;  polytheism 
is  a  degeneration  of  the  idea  taught  to  our  first  parents.  He  mar- 
shals history,  tradition,  and  legend,  making  a  very  interesting 
show  of  learning  and  research." 

The  Open  Court  said  :  *'  The  author's  view  concerning  the  fate 
of  *  creators  of  discord '  is  anthropomorphic,  and  almost  as  pic- 
turesque as  Breughel's  famous  paintings.  The  facts  are  as  vivid 
as  any  romancer  could  present  them." 

The  Lowell  Times  said  :  "  We  readily  recognize  the  conspicuous 
merits  of  this  remarkable  little  treatise — the  abounding  research, 
the  curious  scholarship,  the  graphic  and  business  stjde,  and, 
above  all,  the  scientific  spirit  which  pervades  and  governs  the 
whole.  The  central  idea  is  easily  grasped  :  that  the  conception 
of  the  Jewish  and  Christian  God  was  not  evolved  at  all  in  the  his- 
torical sense,  but  was  in  the  nature  of  a  direct  revelation." 

THOMAS  WHITTAKER,  2  &3  BIBLE  HOUSE,  N.  Y. 


GOD  ENTHRONED  IN  REDEMPTION. 

Being  THE  Second  Part   of   ''God   in   Creation."      In  Answer 
TO  Modern  Theories  of  the  Evolution  of  Christianity. 

Of  this  book  The  Christian  at  Work  said  :  "  This  is  a  small  vol- 
ume, but  it  is  compact  with  research,  vigorous  thought  and  pro- 
found truths.  Its  five  chief  divisions  are  :  I.  Legends  and  Expec- 
tations of  a  Coming  Saviour.  II.  The  first  Sabbath  and  Primitive 
Worship.  III.  Immortality  in  Legends  and  Longings.  IV.  The 
Lamb  Slain  for  Man's  Redemption.  V.  The  Spiritual  Kingdom  a 
Realm  of  Ransomed  Souls.  There  are  an  hundred  embryo  volumes 
in  this  grand  little  book,  which  historically  demonstrates  the  grand 
facts  of  Scripture  upon  which  to  day  is  shining  new  light  and  at- 
testation from  the  monuments  of  Egypt  and  from  the  inscriptions 
of  Assyria  and  Babylonia.  The  reader  will  find  it  a  remarkable 
volume." 

The  New  York  Evangelist  said  :  "  The  central  point  of  the  argu- 
ment is  that  the  solidarity  of  mankind,  being  perfectly  exemplified 
only  in  Adam,  the  salvation  of  the  world  was  provided  while  man- 
kind was  in  solidaric  unity,  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  having  been 
truly  made  at  the  time  of  Adam's  fall.  All  men,  therefore,  having 
sinned  in  him  were  also  saved  in  him.  The  substitution  was  a 
righteous  substitution — viz.,  of  a  perfect  Man  for  a  sinful  man  ; 
and  being  accepted  while  man  was  a  unit,  all  his  children  were 
thereby  put  in  the  same  redeemed  position.  The  author  brings  a 
good  acquaintance  with  the  most  recent  discoveries  to  support  his 
position." 

The  New  York  Mail  and  Rtpress  said  :  "  Among  new  publica- 
tions, '  God  in  Creation  '  and  '  God  Enthroned  in  Redemption  ' 
rightly  command  attention  for  condensed,  vigorous  statement  and 
sustained  power.  It  sweeps  the  whole  field  of  historical  research, 
especially  recent  discoveries  in  the  East,  presenting  them  in  very 
readable  form,  and  is  buttressed  by  highest  authorities.  It  is  com- 
pact, clear,  and  strong,  giving  the  substance  of  many  volumes  not 
readily  accessible.  Thus  it  truly  enthrones  God  in  creation,  in 
primitive  worship  and  sacrifice,  giving  the  legends  about  Satan 
and  evil  spirits  in  early  ages,  with  a  valuable  chapter  on  deluge 
legends  and  pagan  deification.     The  second  part  enthrones  God 


in  redemption,  as  illustrated  in  legends  and  expectations  of  a  Sav- 
iour, in  the  Sabbath  of  primitive  times  universally  observed  ;  im- 
mortality in  legends  and  longings  among  ancient  peoples,  and  so 
prepares  for  a  new  treatment  of  the  Lamb  slain  for  man's  redemp- 
tion." 

The  Independent  said  :  "  The  author  asserts,  and  cites  history  tr 
prove  that  Christianity  is  not  an  evolution  in  history,  but  a  force 
divine  from  the  beginning  which  has  shaped  history.  This  vol- 
ume is  the  supplement  of  an  earlier  one  on  '  God  in  Creation,' 
which  followed  a  line  of  reasoning  similar  to  that  pursaed  in  the 
volume  before  us,  the  author's  aim  being  to  show  that  the  idea  of 
God  was  not  evolved  either  from  ghosts  or  from  hero-worship,  but 
can  be  traced  back  through  the  history  of  the  race.  This  volume 
applies  the  same  reasoning  to  the  hope  of  a  Redeemer,  traces  of 
such  hope  being  widelj'^  diffused  in  the  oldest  legends  of  the  race  ; 
those  of  the  Sabbath,  primitive  worship,  and  the  doctrine  of  sac- 
rifice. The  two  parts  taken  in  connection  form  an  interesting 
argument  based  on  a  patient  and  earnest  study  of  the  history  of 
the  race,  for  the  truth  of  the  Christian  doctrine  that  God  has  never 
left  himself  without  a  witness  in  the  world,  and  that  religion  was 
divinely  taught  to  men  from  the  beginning. " 

The  Christian  Advocate  said  :  "  The  book  sweeps  the  whole  field 
of  historical  demonstration,  and  quotes  from  the  recognized 
authorities.  While  compact  and  scientific  it  yet  has  the  elements 
of  interest  to  the  general  reader,  and  is  an  able  argument  against 
Spencer's  '  Ecclesiastical  Institutions.'  It  is  an  earnest  defence 
of  the  foundations  of  Revealed  Religion." 

Upon  announcing  that  the  second  part  was  read}',  The  Church 
Chronicle  said  :  "  The  author  in  a  scholarly  way  sets  the  reader  to 
thinking  in  fresh  lines  of  old  thought.  The  first  part  was  warmly 
received  in  many  quarters." 

The  Church  Record  suid  :  "  This  is  a  marvellously  strong  book, 
suggestive  of  thought  sufficient  for  many  volumes,  and  meets  the 
crude  speculative  heresies  of  modern  materialism  with  unanswer- 
able power." 

The  Board  of  Missions  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  at  its 
May  meeting,  1889,  voted  to  place  the  completed  work,  two  parts 
in  one  volume,  among  the  approved  books  for  the  use  of  its  Mis- 
sionaries and  Teachers. 

THOMAS  WHITTAKER,  2  <&  3  BIBLE  HOUSE,  N.  Y. 


DATE  DUE 


°^^LORD  ^iiii;; 


Printed  in  USA 


